Irreligion is the absence of religious following. Although people classified as irreligious do not follow a religion, it does not necessarily imply a lack of belief in God or gods; such a person may be a non-religious or non-practicing theist, rather than an atheist or agnostic, although most people who declare themselves irreligious are not theists.
Table: Those identifying themselves as having no religion by country
|
Country
| Percentage stating they have no religion
| Source
|
Australia | 17.5% of the 88.3% of the population choosing to answer a question on religion | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001 census) [1] (http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/9658217EBA753C2CCA256CAE00053FA3?Open)
|
New Zealand | 32.0% of the 85.9% of the population adequately answering a question on religion | Statistics New Zealand (2001 census) [2] (http://www.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/CensusTables.nsf/htmldocs/Religious+Affiliation)
|
South Africa | 15.1% | Statistics South Africa Census 2001[3] (http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/Census/Database/Census%202001/Census%202001.asp)
|
United Kingdom | 16.8% of the 92.7% of the population choosing to answer a question on religion | UK National Statistics (2001 census) [4] (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293)
|
United States | 15.0% of the 94.6% of those choosing to answer a question on religion (based on a survey of 50,281 households in 48 out of 50 states) | American Religious Identification Survey (2001) (as reported by US Census Bureau[5] (http://www.census.gov/prod/www/religion.htm))
|
Canada | 16.2% | Canada 2001 Census [6] (http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/rel/contents.cfm)
|
es:Irreligión