China has the highest amount of atheists living in a single country with nearly 50 per cent of its population describing themselves as non-believers, a new survey has revealed.
Around 47 per cent of people living in China describe themselves as atheists compared to an average of 13 per cent across the world.
A 2012 poll by WIN/Gallup International surveyed more than 50,000 people across 40 countries whether they considered themselves 'religious', 'not religious' or 'convinced atheist'.



It is perhaps not surprising that China has the highest amount of atheists as its republic government was officially atheist when it formed in 1949.

All temples temples and religious relics were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of 1967 to 1977
But the country did relax its religious policy with the 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China guaranteeing 'freedom of religion' in Article 36.

Growing followers: But Pope Francis has nothing to worry about as the numbers of people calling themselves in Italy has increased since 2005
The policy regarding religious practice in China states that 'no state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens because they do, or do not believe in religion.'
Since the mid-1980s there has been a massive program to rebuild Buddhist and Taoist temples.
In recent times, the government has expressed support for Buddhism and Taoism, organizing the World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the International Forum on the Daodejing in 2007. The government sees these religions as an integral part of Chinese culture.
There are five religions recognized by the state, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
But these figures appear to suggest that much of the skepticism surrounding organized religion in the country has survived.
Whereas in Japan, where a post-WWII taboo still remains, with 31 per cent still atheists.
One of the most surprising figures in the Islamic country of Saudi Arabia where five per cent of the population described themselves as atheists, despite this being considered a crime.
This compares to just one per cent in both Iraq and Afghanistan who describe themselves as atheists.
And in Italy, the home of the Catholic Church, support is still strong with nearly three-fourths of Italians consider themselves religious, which is actually up on 2005's figures.
Earlier this week Pope Francis has said atheists who are good are redeemed by Jesus in a homily urging that people of differing beliefs work together.
WIN/Gallup notes that religion is strongest among the poor and the less educated, which correlates among the most religious countries.

In Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia and Fiji, more than nine in 10 people say they’re religious.

SOURCE: DAILYMAIL

Take a look at that map and compare with the one below.

It's a picture of the world at night. Nuff said.

[img]http://molmengis.files./2010/09/earth_night.jpg[/img]

Religion keep us in the dark

musKeeto: Take a look at that map and compare with the one below.

It's a picture of the world at night. Nuff said.

[img]http://molmengis.files./2010/09/earth_night.jpg[/img]

fhuck! tht is mad cool

CAMEROONPRIDE: Religion keep us in the dark

interesting argument

CAMEROONPRIDE: Religion keep us in the dark

Ignore Africa. Compare the top left. North America region, I believe...

musKeeto:
Ignore Africa. Compare the top left. North America region, I believe...

no one live there....pass Canada It's all about ice and bears, even Canada is only 30M of people

@Muskeeto & the world map @night
[sarcasm] Sorry...are you trying to make some correlation between religion & electricity/power supply? [/sarcasm]

While one has no illusions about how far Africa still has to go in terms of development, the mapatnight is too easy. A good percentage of the land on the African continent is largely uninhabited - see the mid section, a good chunk is the Sahara desert.

The map is 'cool' but just saying, it does not tell the whole story.

JeSoul: @Muskeeto & the world map @night
[sarcasm] Sorry...are you trying to make some correlation between religion & electricity/power supply? [/sarcasm]

While one has no illusions about how far Africa still has to go in terms of development, the mapatnight is too easy. A good percentage of the land on the African continent is largely uninhabited - see the mid section, a good chunk is the Sahara desert.

The map is 'cool' but just saying, it does not tell the whole story.

A good portion is inhabited? Who told you that?

otumfour: China has the highest amount of atheists living in a single country with nearly 50 per cent of its population describing themselves as non-believers, a new survey has revealed.
Around 47 per cent of people living in China describe themselves as atheists compared to an average of 13 per cent across the world.
A 2012 poll by WIN/Gallup International surveyed more than 50,000 people across 40 countries whether they considered themselves 'religious', 'not religious' or 'convinced atheist'.



It is perhaps not surprising that China has the highest amount of atheists as its republic government was officially atheist when it formed in 1949.

All temples temples and religious relics were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of 1967 to 1977
But the country did relax its religious policy with the 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China guaranteeing 'freedom of religion' in Article 36.

Growing followers: But Pope Francis has nothing to worry about as the numbers of people calling themselves in Italy has increased since 2005
The policy regarding religious practice in China states that 'no state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens because they do, or do not believe in religion.'
Since the mid-1980s there has been a massive program to rebuild Buddhist and Taoist temples.
In recent times, the government has expressed support for Buddhism and Taoism, organizing the World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the International Forum on the Daodejing in 2007. The government sees these religions as an integral part of Chinese culture.
There are five religions recognized by the state, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
But these figures appear to suggest that much of the skepticism surrounding organized religion in the country has survived.
Whereas in Japan, where a post-WWII taboo still remains, with 31 per cent still atheists.
One of the most surprising figures in the Islamic country of Saudi Arabia where five per cent of the population described themselves as atheists, despite this being considered a crime.
This compares to just one per cent in both Iraq and Afghanistan who describe themselves as atheists.
And in Italy, the home of the Catholic Church, support is still strong with nearly three-fourths of Italians consider themselves religious, which is actually up on 2005's figures.
Earlier this week Pope Francis has said atheists who are good are redeemed by Jesus in a homily urging that people of differing beliefs work together.
WIN/Gallup notes that religion is strongest among the poor and the less educated, which correlates among the most religious countries.

In Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia and Fiji, more than nine in 10 people say they’re religious.

SOURCE: DAILYMAIL

Interesting...I'm a bit surprised certain parts of Europe did not score higher in the % of atheists (guess Catholism still has a strong following there)

Thanks JeSoul.

That's why I asked @Cameroun to ignore Africa and look @ America. My geography knowledge isn't up to scratch.

The first map shows that religion is still holding its own in the US. Even the deeply religious India is lit up at night(not the best, but power's on 22 out of 24 hrs here). It would be wrong to blame religion solely for the problem of Africa.

musKeeto: Take a look at that map and compare with the one below.

It's a picture of the world at night. Nuff said.

[img]http://molmengis.files./2010/09/earth_night.jpg[/img]

case closed.. EOD.... goodnight people, sleep well

North America is inhabired..that's why it is dark there, Africa has over 1billion people yet we live in the dark

JeSoul: Interesting...I'm a bit surprised certain parts of Europe did not score higher in the % of atheists (guess Catholism still has a strong following there)

european and survey, anyway a lot of European are Christian but don't practice anymore, so they keep answering Christian but the churches are empty

not surprising.
the nations in indigo and lavender all have interesting histories
dealing with imperialism, civil wars and high corruption.

all of those things can easily turn someone into an atheist.
im just glad my island is still in gray!

and the map with the lights also is interesting as it also reflects history in a way.

That light map is cool.......

from the dailymail right ?

CAMEROONPRIDE:
A good portion is inhabited? Who told you that?

Google it sir, you'll come up with similar images like the one below. If I had to place an estimate, I'd say we utilize maybe ~25-30% of total available land area. See this population density map (a bit old from the 90s but illustrates the point):


Even the inhabited regions, many are underpopulated. The central part of Africa (horizontally) is practically deserted (pun intended, Sahara desert). And vertically (much of mid & south-west/south-south africa) the region is also sparsely inhabited as well. So when people describe Africa as the land of untouched, untapped resources, it is true beyond our imagination.

musKeeto: Thanks JeSoul.

That's why I asked @Cameroun to ignore Africa and look @ America. My geography knowledge isn't up to scratch.

The first map shows that religion is still holding its own in the US. Even the deeply religious India is lit up at night(not the best, but power's on 22 out of 24 hrs here). It would be wrong to blame religion solely for the problem of Africa.

Okay, I misunderstood ya. Thanks! As for the part in bold...tell that to your brethren! lol.

^^naija no dey carry last

adaobi123: ^^naija no dey carry last

well, we are the most populous country in Africa by I think more than double the next (and we're the most populous black nation in the world). Also like other "popular" spots, we attract a lot of other african nationals. As tough as things are, we're still a top choice for local immigration.

90 is not a bit but very old...BTW who is going to live in a desert? Anyway That's still don't justify why Africa is in the dark, America, China all have desert,forests mountains so your analysis is flawed, we are talking about a continent with +1billion people ..and if we should follow your logic, one will expect the like of Nigeria, ethiopia etc to have some light?

JeSoul: well, we are the most populous country in Africa by I think more than double the next (and we're the most populous black nation in the world). Also like other "popular" spots, we attract a lot of other african nationals. As tough as things are, we're still a top choice for local immigration.

Really ? Thats interesting, I guess boko haram is not much of a turn off then

JeSoul: well, we are the most populous country in Africa by I think more than double the next (and we're the most populous black nation in the world). Also like other "popular" spots, we attract a lot of other african nationals. As tough as things are[b], we're still a top choice for local immigration[/b].

where did you get that from?

adaobi123:

Really ? Thats interesting, I guess boko haram is not much of a turn off then

It is...I said local immigration now big difference. Its a matter of relativity...to someone in war-torn Uganda, PortHarcourt would be a major upgrade. To someone from PortHarcourt, London would probably be a major upgrade. Its all relative...

CAMEROONPRIDE: where did you get that from?

Which part? the population or immigration? The population amount is established but I don't have figures to back up the immigration part (so you can leave it if you don't agree ), mostly documented are frantic Nigerian efforts are migrating out of the nation. We don't have the best records to capture the influx of other african nationalities

JeSoul: It is...I said local immigration now big difference. Its a matter of relativity...to someone in war-torn Uganda, PortHarcourt would be a major upgrade. To someone from PortHarcourt, London would probably be a major upgrade. Its all relative...

ahhhh I see

The immigration part, well if you say that to make you feel good then no problem. The people going in Nigeria do it because they have no choice(Nigeria is the closest destination) but not because Nigeria on top of choice.a Better way to compare is with two destinations , ask any immigrants in Nigeria : you want to go in SA or stay in Nigeria? Or you want to go in Angola or stay in Nigeria. And Uganda is not at war , Uganda is more peaceful than Nigeria by far......

This is like me saying Cameroon is on top of destination for local immigration because we have 4millions nigeria and thousand of CAR, Chadian etc, in fact we have more foreigners than nigerian...over 13% of our population is from other countries of Africa...
People will go in Ghana, Senegal, etc before Nigeria,

Numbers and statistics. Cameround.

Your whole population is less than 50% of ours. If 13% of your population's all foreigners, it may not even amount to 50% of the foreigners living in our country or Lagos and the Niger Delta alone.

adaobi123:

ahhhh I see

Hallo.
What brings you here?

musKeeto:

Hallo.
What brings you here?

i found the thread interesting

musKeeto: Numbers and statistics. Cameround.

Your whole population is less than 50% of ours. If 13% of your populations is all foreigners, it may not even amount to 50% of the foreigners living in our country or Lagos and the Niger Delta alone.

I get it and that's not even the point, the point is if the choice is given will they go to Nigeria? Do people leave Gabon or Equato guinea to go in Nigeria? Do Ugandan or Angolan leave their counties to go in Nigeria?

CAMEROONPRIDE: I get it and that's not even the point, the point is if the choice is given will they go to Nigeria? Do people leave Gabon or Equato guinea to go in Nigeria? Do Ugandan or Angolan leave their counties to go in Nigeria?

And that's JeSoul's point. For some, Nigeria's an upgrade. It may even be their only choice. But it's a better one than staying back home.

musKeeto:

And that's JeSoul's point. For some, Nigeria's an upgrade. It may even be their only choice. But it's a better one than staying back home.

things are, we're still a top choice for local immigration

^^ I don't know for her point, but this is the bone of contention, her statement like she admitted herself doesn't have any figure to back up her claim.

'skeerow, you try .

CAMEROONPRIDE:

things are, we're still a top choice for local immigration

^^ I don't know for her point, but this is the bone of contention, her statement like she admitted herself doesn't have any figure to back up her claim.

I stand by my statement, and actually found some stats for you. From IOM (international org for migration, can't get any more credible than that) a detailed study/publication on Nigerian migration patterns over decades http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/free/Nigeria_Profile_2009.pdf

Page 47, the pdf reads:

C.1.1 Total number of immigrants

Nigeria remains a strong attractive pole for immigrant populations. Table 5
shows that the total number of the stock of immigrants increased over the years.
This is reflected in the volumes, namely 101,450 for 1963 and 477,135 for 1991
(NPC, 1998). The volume further increased to 751,126 by 2000 and 972,126 by
2005. It is estimated that in 2010 the immigrant stock residing in the country will
further increase up to 1.1 million people (see Table 12 in annex) (UNPD, 2009).
In addition, the percentage of immigrants to the total population of
Nigeria increased from 0.6 per cent in 2000 to 0.7 per cent in 2005. .....
The immigrant annual growth rate remains very high, although stable.

I rest my case .

below, figure shows data on migrants into Nigeria and how its been increasing over decades.

CAMEROONPRIDE: 90 is not a bit but very old ...BTW who is going to live in a desert? Anyway That's still don't justify why Africa is in the dark, America, China all have desert,forests mountains so your analysis is flawed, we are talking about a continent with +1billion people ..and if we should follow your logic, one will expect the like of Nigeria, ethiopia etc to have some light?

And on this...

you have to understand these kinds of population studies because of the sheer volume of data & research that has to be analyzed are typically carried out at decade intervals, not yearly or every leap year.

Since the 90's are too old for you, here is the most recent world map of population densities...still tells the exact same story as the Africa one from the 90s.