Switching My Religion: 20% Around The Globe Have Left Their Childhood Faith
NEW YORK — An estimated one-fifth of adults around the world have left the faith group in which they were raised — with Christianity and Buddhism experiencing especially large losses from this “religious switching,” a new study reveals.
The figures — compiled by the Pew Research Center following surveys of nearly 80,000 people in 36 countries — show that 50% of adults in South Korea, 36% in the Netherlands, 28% in the United States and 21% in Brazil “no longer identify with their childhood religion.”
“Most of the movement has been into the category we call religiously unaffiliated, which consists of people who answer a question about their religion by saying they are atheists, agnostics or ‘nothing in particular,’” the report, released on Wednesday, added. “In other words, most of the switching is disaffiliation — people leaving the religion of their childhood and no longer identifying with any religion.”
Pew found that many were raised Christians to unaffiliated. In Sweden, for example, 29% of adults said they were raised Christian but now describe themselves as either atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.”
At the same time, Buddhism is also losing believers. Pew found that in two Asian nations that are majority-Buddhist — Japan and South Korea — have seen sharp swings: 23% of adults surveyed in Japan and 13% in South Korea say they were raised Buddhists “but don’t identify with any religion today.”
The numbers also swing the other way: South Korea has the highest share of people who said they were raised with no religious affiliation but belong to one now (9%). Most of them (6% of all South Korean adults) said they had no religious upbringing and are now practicing Christians.
Christianity on the decline
In most of the countries surveyed 925 of the 36), Christianity has the highest largest net loss of beleivers, according to Pew.
The report confirmed a trend that most of the loses have come from Western Europe. The top five nations on the list — Italy, Germany, France, Poland and Spain — are found in Western Europe. In Italy, for example, 28 people have left Christianity for every one that has become one.
In Asia, however, Christianity has made some small gains as a result of switching. In Singapore, for every Singaporean who has left Christianity, about three others have become Christians.
Most switches around the world, especially in Europe, has seen going from faith to what experts have labeled “nones.” In most Western nations, church attendance has been declining for years, especially among young people, as secularization has grown.
“The category that has experienced the largest net gains from switching is the religiously unaffiliated,” the report said.
Demographics matter
In 13 countries – including a majority of Latin American nations, Europe and North America – adults under 35 are more likely than adults ages 50 and older to have switched religions.
In Spain, 48% of 18- to 34-year-olds have switched religions since childhood, compared with 36% of adults ages 50 and older. In Colombia, 34% of the youngest adults have switched religions, compared with 14% of the oldest adults.
But in Australia, younger adults are slightly less likely than older adults to have switched religions (32% vs. 37%).
“Because the survey questions pick up changes that have happened at any time since childhood, it is not possible to know whether the adults older than 50 who have disaffiliated did so recently or long ago, perhaps when they were in their teens or early 20s,” the survey noted. “Some older adults may have disaffiliated when they were young and then came back to a religion as they aged.”
At the same time, in 12 of the 36 countries surveyed, people with high rates of education tend to switch most.
Highest retention rates
Pew found that people who were raised Jewish and Hindu had the highest retention rates.
Most people raised Jewish in Israel and the U.S. still identify this way today — resulting in high Jewish retention rates in both countries. In Israel alone, “fewer than 1% of adults who were raised Jewish no longer identify as such.”
Nearly all people who were raised Hindu in India and Bangladesh still identify as Hindu today.
The Hindu retention rate is “high in all the places analyzed” — including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the United States. For instance, only 1% of adults in India — where Hinduism is the majority religion — have left their faith.
“The Hindu retention rate is high in all the countries where it can be measured,” the report added. “For example, in Bangladesh and India, nearly all adults who were raised Hindu still identify as Hindu today.”
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged.