JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
People around the world are switching religions or leaving religion altogether. A new study from Pew Research finds that large portions of adults no longer practice the faith in which they were raised. Pew surveyed nearly 80,000 people in 36 countries. NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose reports.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Switching is especially common in East Asia, Europe and the Americas. Kirsten Lesage is the study's lead author.
KIRSTEN LESAGE: Out of the 36 countries that we surveyed in, the three countries with the highest rates of religious switching are South Korea, Spain and Canada.
DEROSE: In South Korea, Pew found that 50% of respondents had changed religions. In Spain, 40% said they'd left their childhood faith. In Canada, the number is 38%. By comparison, in the U.S., 28% switched. Lesage says two religions were most affected.
LESAGE: The religious groups that have had the largest losses from religious switching are Christianity and Buddhism.
DEROSE: Lesage says the change is particularly acute in parts of Europe.
LESAGE: For example, Italy has the highest ratio of people leaving to people joining Christianity.
DEROSE: For every one person who becomes Christian, about 28 Italians are leaving the religion. The biggest gains were among those who have no religious affiliation, which is a group that includes atheists, agnostics and those who describe themselves as nothing in particular.
LESAGE: So it's not the case that people are necessarily switching from one religion to the next. For example, there's not a lot of switching from Christianity into Islam.
DEROSE: Rather, Lesage says, most switching is people leaving religion altogether. Meanwhile, specific religions in some countries appear to be stickier than others. Pew found very small percentages of the overall adult population have left or joined Islam in most of the countries surveyed, and nearly all people who were raised Hindu in India and Bangladesh still identify as Hindu today.
Judaism's retention rate is also high. In Israel, 100% of people Pew surveyed who were raised Jewish still identify religiously as Jewish. In the U.S., 76% of those raised Jewish still identify that way today, with most American Jews who've left the faith now identifying as unaffiliated. Pew also found that 19% of U.S. adults raised as Christian now identify as religiously unaffiliated.
Jason DeRose, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEBBIE SONG, "I'M DIFFERENT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
