1 in 6 people not religious - survey
2012-12-19 12:52
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Johannesburg - The religiously unaffiliated are the
third-largest group in the world, after Christians and Muslims, according to a
new survey.
About one in six people, or 1.1 billion, profess to having
no religious affiliation, according to the Pew Forum on Religious and Public
Life. The survey was released on Tuesday.
While the group includes atheists and agnostics, it is not
exclusive to them.
"Surveys indicate that many of the unaffiliated hold
some religious or spiritual beliefs (such as belief in God or a universal
spirit) even though they do not identify with a particular faith," Pew
said.
Pew conducted the study, called "The Global Religious
Landscape", in 2010 and researched people in more than 230 countries and
territories.
The survey found there were 2.2 billion Christians, about 32%
of the world's population, and 1.6 billion Muslims.
The fourth-largest group in the world were Hindus, about one
billion, followed by about 500 million Buddhists.
More than 400 million, or six percent, of the world's
population practice different folk or traditional religions, including African
traditional religions.
The survey found about 14 million Jews, about 0.2% of the
population.
About 58 million people, less than one percent of the
population, practice other religions including Baha'i, Jainism, Sikhism,
Shitoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wiccanism and Zoroasterianism, amongst others.
- SAPA
