In the U.K., the 2011 Census of
England and Wales found that the city of Norwich had the highest percentage of
non-believers, with 42.5 percent of residents saying that they had "no religion"
—compared to a 25.1 percent average for England and Wales as a whole.
Brighton and Hove came in at
second place, with 42.4 percent placing themselves in the non-religious
category.
As Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi,
professor of psychology at the University of Haifa, noted, the rise in
secularism is largely due to young people who reject or never turn to
religion.
"Those with no religious
affiliation have been found to be younger, mostly male, with higher levels of
education and income, more liberal, but also more unhappy and more alienated
from wider society," Beit-Hallahmi said.
In broader Europe, the Guardian
report notes that Berlin has long been dubbed the "atheist capital of Europe,"
with as many as 60 percent of Berliners claiming to not have a religion.
There have been many different
surveys and studies on religion looking into the demographics and composition of
believers and non-believers.
A
WIN/Gallup International poll from earlier this year found
that China has the high percentage of atheists in the world, due in part to the
staying power of the Communist regime. Japan was ranked second on the list when
it comes to a lack of belief in an all-seeing God, though the nation remains
spiritual in nature, more so than strictly atheistic.
The European nations of the Czech
Republic and France followed on the list, with 30 to 39 percent of Czech
citizens identifying as non-believers.
