According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2023, over 60 percent of respondents reported no religious affiliation, while approximately 20 percent identified as Christians and 16 percent as Buddhists. Religious population South Korea is a multi-religious society where Christianity, Buddhism, and various other religions coexist with shamanism. According to a previous study, the domestic religious population appeared to decline over time after reaching its peak in 2005, at nearly 25 million people. In contrast, the share of people who are religiously unaffiliated has increased in recent years. Within the last two decades, the religiously unaffiliated population has increased from about 40 percent to more than 60 percent. Shamanism Shamanism has continued to significantly influence the daily lives of many South Koreans. According to a survey conducted in 2023, about 40 percent of respondents reported having consulted a fortune-teller within the past year. Roughly 80 percent of those respondents were already affiliated with a religion.

The statistic shows the population distribution in South Korea in 2015, sorted by religion. In 2015, approximately 27.5 million people in South Korea were not following any religions, while 9.68 millions were following Protestantism.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2021, around 59 percent of respondents in their 60s identified with a religion. The age group between 19 and 29 showed the lowest level of religious affiliation.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2023, around 36.6 percent of respondents identified with a religion. This was a decrease of about 20 percentage points compared to two decades ago.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2021, around 56 percent of women and 34 percent of men identified with a religion. Throughout the surveyed period, women were more likely to be affiliated with a religion than men.

In 2022, the number of Protestant Christians in South Korea was estimated to be around 7.74 million. This marked a significant decrease from the 11 million reported a decade earlier.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2023, about 17 percent of respondents who were raised in the Christian faith reported that they no longer identify with any religion. Similarly, around 14 percent of respondents who were raised as Buddhists expressed a similar shift in their religious identification. In total, about 35 percent of respondents raised in a different religious tradition stated that they no longer identify with any specific religion.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2023, the cities of Busan and Ulsan, as well as the Gyeongnam Province, had the highest share of Buddhists, making up around 32 percent of the population in this region. In Seoul, Protestantism was the predominant religion, accounting for about 22 percent of the city's population.

Corée, République de: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: Pour cet indicateur, The Cline Center for Democracy fournit des données pour la Corée, République de de 1960 à 2013. La valeur moyenne pour Corée, République de pendant cette période était de 5.7 pour cent avec un minimum de 2 pour cent en 1960 et un maximum de 11.1 pour cent en 2013.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2024, about 60 percent of Protestant respondents reported feeling rather hostile toward LGBTQ+ people, while those identifying with other religions or having no religion accounted for around 30 percent. Catholic respondents showed the most favorable attitude toward LGBTQ+ people, with approximately 15 percent expressing support.

Christianity is the major religion in numerous African countries. As of 2024, around 96 percent of the population of Zambia was Christian, representing the highest percentage on the continent. Seychelles and Rwanda followed with roughly 95 percent and 94 percent of the population being Christian, respectively. While these countries present the highest percentages, Christianity was also prevalent in many other African nations. For instance, in South Africa, Christianity was the religion of nearly 85 percent of the people, while the share corresponded to 71 percent in Ghana. Religious variations across Africa Christianity and Islam are the most practiced religions in Africa. Christian adherents are prevalent below the Sahara, while North Africa is predominantly Muslim. In 2020, Christians accounted for around 60 percent of the Sub-Saharan African population, followed by Muslims with a share of roughly 30 percent. In absolute terms, there were approximately 650 million Christians in the region, a number forecast to increase to over one billion by 2050. In contrast, Islam is most prevalent in North Africa, being the religion of over 90 percent of the population in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. Christianity in the world As opposed to other religions, Christianity is widely spread across continents worldwide. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe each account for around 25 percent of the global Christian population. By comparison, Asia-Pacific and North America make up 13 percent and 12 percent of Christians worldwide, respectively. In several regions, Christians also suffer persecution on religious grounds. Somalia and Libya presented the most critical situation in Africa in 2021, reporting the strongest suppression of Christians worldwide just after North Korea and Afghanistan.

The statistic shows the number of religious people in South Korea from 1985 to 2015. In 2015, approximately 21.55 million people in South Korea considered themselves religious, decreased from 24.97 millions in 2005.

Christianity was the largest religion in a high number of the countries included in the survey. Of the countries, Peru, South Africa, and Poland had the highest share of Christians at around 75 percent. Moreover, around 90 percent in India and Thailand stated that they believed in another religion, with Hinduism and Buddhism being the major religion in the two countries respectively. Sweden and South Korea were the only two countries where 50 percent or more of the respondents stated that they did not have any religious beliefs.

In Brazil, 70 percent of the respondents believed in God as described in the holy scriptures, and another 19 percent believed in a higher power or spirit. In South Africa, the figures were 73 and 16 percent respectively. By contrast, less than one in five in Japan and only one in three in South Korea believed in God or some form of spirit or higher power.

In 2023, North Korea was the country with the strongest suppression of Christians with an index value of 97.8. Somalia followed behind with 91.6, with Yemen in third.

The World Watch List The index ranges from 0 (complete freedom) to 100 (total suppression). The survey for the World Watch List included various aspects of religious freedom: the legal and official status of Christians, the actual situation of Christians living in the country, regulations from the state as well as factors that can undermine the freedom of religion in a country. Christianity worldwide Even though Christianity is the largest religion worldwide, there are many areas of the world where Christians are persecuted. As the list shows, this is especially the case in countries with larger Muslim populations. Moreover, these countries are characterized by their authoritarian nature. The global distribution of religions varies strongly; whereas almost 100 percent of Hindus and Buddhists are found in the Asia-Pacific, Christians are spread around most world regions except the Middle East and North Africa.

People who see religion as very important usually have a lower acceptance of homosexuality. According to a survey conducted in 2019, in South Korea, Lebanon, and Lithuania, respondents who perceived religion as very relevant had a very low acceptance of homosexuality, below 10 percent. Among the countries with the largest discrepancies between people seeing religion as very important and those seeing it as not very important, Israel recorded the highest difference in percentage points.