So did another in my series of religious demography maps, this time for the Irreligious population.
NOTES:
1. Irreligious includes Atheists, Agnostics and those who fit into the category of Spiritual But Not Religious.
2. There are quite a few places that are shown as Insufficient Data that have large Irreligious populations; I have included a list of all the I/D polities below this notes section.
3. I've used a mixture of self-identification AND secondary polling (namely 'Do you believe in (a) God?') for this map as there are a very large amount of people in various countries (mostly Europe) who will answer that they're Christian or Muslim but when asked if they believe in god will answer that they don't.
Insufficient Data:
Abkhazia - No data available.
Albania - No reliable data; government records have been deemed unreliable and NGO polling shows massive differences in results, ranging from 2.5-63% . My personal estimate is in the 35-45% range.
Angola - The last official census (2014) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 12%. My personal estimate is in the 13-18% range.
Anguilla - The last official census (2011) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 4%. My personal estimate is in the 4-7% range.
Ascension - Ascension does not have a permanent population.
Azerbaijan -No reliable data; government and NGO polling often show wildly different results. My personal estimate is in the 15-25% range.
Bahrain - Data not recorded; roughly 18% of Bahrain's population are not Muslim, however the government does not differentiate beyond that and NGO polling is not specific enough. My personal estimate is in the 1-5% range.
Barbados - The last official census (2010) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 1.9%. My personal estimate is in the 2-5% range.
Belize - The last official census (2010) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 15.5%. My personal estimate is in the 16-20% range.
Bermuda - The last reliable estimates (2010) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges; the last official numbers were 17.8%. My personal estimate is in the 19-25% range.
British Virgin Islands - The last official census (2010) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 15.5%. My personal estimate is in the 16-20% range.
Burma - No reliable data; the government does not recognize Irreligious groups, the existing data is out of date (2014), the official numbers are suspect and the civil war is likely changing demographics. My personal estimate is in the 3-15% range.
Cyprus - The last official census (2010) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists, additionally the government has a habit of lumping everything that's not Christianity or Islam into one category; the last official numbers were 0.6%. My personal estimate is in the 1-4% range.
Eritrea - No reliable data; the Eritrean government does not conduct accurate censuses or polling nor does it recognize any religious groups outside of Sunni Islam or the four specific Christian denominations it's chosen, in addition what numbers it does provide are to further its own propaganda; more recent NGO and U.S. estimates vary wildly. My personal estimate is in the 0.5-5% range.
Faroe Islands - The last official census (2011) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 4%. My personal estimate is in the 5-10% range.
Grenada - The last official census (2011) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 5.7%. My personal estimate is in the 6-10% range.
Guernsey - No data available.
Hungary - Insufficient Data; the last census (2022) is essentially unusable as a source as 40% of the population did not answer the question on religion; the official numbers for those answering was 16.1%. My personal estimate is in the 20-55% range.
Iran - No reliable data; as the Iranian government is a Theocracy it not only undercounts religious minorities, but does not recognize Irreligious groups, additionally NGO polling varies significantly from Less than 1% to 18%. My personal estimate is in the 5-10% range.
ISIL - No data available.
Korea, N. - Insufficient Data; the government does not collect records on religious demographics and only recognizes a very limited number of religious groups, additionally there are no recent estimates from any reliable NGOs. My personal estimate is in the 65-85% range.
Kurdistan - No reliable data; the government does not collect data on religious demography and NGO estimates vary greatly from Less than 1% to 15%, additionally recent events (ISIL, COVID) are shown to have affected the identity and importance of religion among the population. My personal estimate is in the 1-5% range.
Laos - No reliable data; the government only recognizes four religions and does not tend to publish information on religious demography, additionally the last major NGO polling was from 2015 and lumped Irreligion and 'Other' Religions into the same category. My personal estimate is in the 2-15% range.
Lebanon - No reliable data; the government has not conducted a census or collected data on religious demographics since 1932 and generally discourages doing so, NGO polling tends to not be particularly reliable and the influx of refugees from the Syrian Civil War will have changed numbers as well. My personal estimate is in the 10-20% range.
Monaco - No reliable data; the government does not actively collect information on religious demographics, additionally existing major NGO polling (2012) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges; the last major polling numbers were 11.7%. My personal estimate is in the 15-25% range.
Nepal - No reliable data; the government does not recognize Irreligious options in its census and polling, additionally there's not much in terms of NGO polling. My personal estimate is in the 5-15% range.
Russia - No reliable data; while the Russian government records religious demographics these numbers are not reliable, additionally NGO polling numbers vary wildly from 5-40%. My personal estimate is in the 25-35% range.
Saint Lucia - The last official census (2010) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 5.9%. My personal estimate is in the 6-10% range.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - The last official census (2012) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 7.5%. My personal estimate is in the 8-11% range.
SĂŁo TomĂ© and PrĂncipe - No reliable data; The last official census (2012) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 21.2%. My personal estimate is in the 22-28% range.
Sint Maarten - No reliable data; The last official census (2011) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 7.9%. My personal estimate is in the 10-15% range.
South Ossetia - No data available.
Syria - No reliable data; the government has not conducted a census or collected data on religious demographics since the 1960's, what NGO polling exists doesn't tend to record irreligious groups and the Civil War has massively altered the countries demography. My personal estimate is in the 10-20% range.
Tokelau - No reliable data; the last official numbers (2011) on religious demographics lie outside of my acceptable time ranges and do not seem to include Irreligious options, additionally there is no recent NGO polling. My personal estimate is in the 0.5-3% range.
Transnistria - No reliable data; the last official numbers (2012) on religious demographics lie outside of my acceptable time ranges, additionally the government numbers are themself suspect. My personal estimate is in the 1-10% range.
Trinidad and Tobago - No reliable data; The last official census (2011) lies outside of my acceptable time ranges, includes three categories that likely have overlap for the Irreligious population and no recent enough NGO polling exists; the last official numbers were 2.2%. My personal estimate is in the 4-8% range.
Tristan da Cunha - No reliable data; official census and polling numbers do not include the islands separately and what little demographic data exists tend to just declare the population to be 100% Christian. My personal estimate is in the 0.5-2% range.
Turks and Caicos Islands - No reliable data; their does not seem to be any recent official polling on religious demography and what exists lumps everything that's not Christianity into a single 'Other' category. My personal estimate is in the 2-10% range.
Vietnam - No reliable data; the most recent census (2018) includes Irreligious groups and groups practicing Indigenous Beliefs (which is a substantial group) in the same category, additionally no recent NGO polling exists. My personal estimate is in the 55-75% range.