Over 20% of Adults Say Goodbye To Their Childhood Beliefs
A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center across 36 countries revealed that more than 20% of adults have moved away from the religious traditions in which they were raised, a trend known as “religious switching.” This shift has contributed to a decline in followers of Christianity and Buddhism, while an increasing number of individuals now identify as religiously unaffiliated. Religious switching includes both leaving a faith entirely and converting to a different major religion but does not account for changes within the same religious tradition, such as shifting between denominations within Christianity.
Religious retention rates differ across various regions. Countries like India, Israel, Nigeria, and Thailand maintain high retention rates, with 95% or more of individuals continuing to follow the religion of their upbringing. In contrast, areas in East Asia, Western Europe, and the Americas show greater religious movement. For example, in South Korea, half of the adult population no longer practices their childhood religion. Similarly, significant portions of people in the Netherlands, the United States, and Brazil have distanced themselves from their original faiths, often identifying as atheist, agnostic, or religiously unaffiliated.
Christianity has been particularly affected by this trend, experiencing some of the highest losses. In Sweden, about 29% of individuals raised as Christians no longer associate with the faith. In Germany, for every person who joins Christianity, nearly 20 leave. However, not all countries follow this pattern. In places like Singapore, Christianity has grown, with more people converting to the religion than leaving it. Nigeria, on the other hand, has seen a balanced exchange, with an equal number of individuals entering and exiting Christianity.
Buddhism has also seen declines, especially in East Asia. In Japan, around a quarter of those raised as Buddhists no longer identify with any religion, while in South Korea, 13% have left the faith. However, religious switching is not solely about disaffiliation; some countries show an increase in religious adoption. South Korea has the highest percentage of adults who were raised without a religion but have since embraced one, with Christianity being the most commonly adopted faith.
The effects of religious switching are not uniform across all faiths. Christianity, the most widely practiced religion, remains significant in most of the surveyed nations. Islam, the second-largest global religion, maintains strong influence in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Turkey. Buddhism, while historically prevalent in nations like Japan and South Korea, has seen notable disaffiliation in some areas. Meanwhile, Hinduism and Judaism, which are dominant in India and Israel respectively, show much lower levels of religious switching compared to other faiths.