Demographics of atheism

Accurate demographics of atheism are difficult to obtain since conceptions of atheism vary considerably across different cultures and languages, ranging from an active concept to being unimportant or not developed. Also in some countries and regions atheism carries a strong stigma, making it harder to count atheists in these countries.^[1][2] In global studies, the number of people without a religion is usually higher than the number of people without a belief in a deity^[3][4] and the number of people who agree with statements on lacking a belief in a deity is usually higher than the number of people who self-identify as "atheists".^[3][1]

According to sociologist Phil Zuckerman, broad estimates of those who have an absence of belief in a deity range from 500 to 750 million people worldwide as of 2006.^[5] An earlier estimate stated that there were 200 million to 240 million self-identified atheists worldwide as of the year 2000, with China and Russia being major contributors to these figures.^[3] According to sociologists Ariela Keysar and Juhem Navarro-Rivera's review of numerous global studies on atheism, there are 450 to 500 million positive atheists and agnostics worldwide (7% of the world's population) with China alone accounting for 200 million of that demographic as of 2013.^[6] Zuckerman, Galen and Pasquale estimated there were 400 million nonreligious or nontheistic people as of 2016.^[7] Relative to its own populations, Zuckerman ranks the top five countries with the highest possible ranges of atheists and agnostics: Sweden (46–85%), Vietnam (81%), Denmark (43–80%), Norway (31–72%), and Japan (64–65%).^[8][9]

Of the global atheist and non-religious population, 76% live in Asia and the Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (12%), North America (5%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (less than 1%).^[10] The prevalence of atheism in Africa and South America typically falls below 10%.^[11] According to the Pew Research Center's 2012 global study of 230 countries and territories, 16% of the world's population is not affiliated with a religion, while 84% are affiliated.^[12] Furthermore, the global study noted that many of the unaffiliated, which include atheists and agnostics, still have various religious beliefs and practices.^[10]

Historical records of atheist philosophy span several millennia. The first occurrences of atheistic schools are found in Indian thought and have existed from the times of ancient Hinduism.^[13][14][15] Western atheism has its roots in pre-Socratic Greek philosophy, but did not emerge as a distinct perspective on religious claims until the late Enlightenment.^[16]

Discrepancies exist among sources as to how atheist and religious demographics are changing. Questions to assess non-belief may ask about negation of the prevailing belief, rather than an assertion of positive atheism.^[17] Also, self-identification is not congruous to people's lack of beliefs automatically. For instance, merely not having a belief in a god, for whatever reason, does not automatically mean that people self-identify as an "atheist".^[18] According to global Win-Gallup International studies, 13% of respondents were "convinced atheists" in 2012,^[19] 11% were "convinced atheists" in 2015,^[20] and in 2017, 9% were "convinced atheists".^[21] However, other earlier global studies have indicated that global atheism may be in decline due to irreligious countries having the lowest birth rates in the world and religious countries having higher birth rates in general.^[1][22]