Big drop in USA religiosity

 

Shifts in U.S. Religiosity and European Comparisons

Recent data from the Gallup World Poll show a substantial decline in religious commitment in the United States. In 2015, about 66 % of U.S. adults said religion is an important part of their daily life. By 2024, that figure had dropped to 49 %.
https://www.news.gallup.com/poll/697676/drop-religiosity-among-largest-world.aspx  

The size of the drop – 17 percentage points – places the U.S. among a small group of countries that have seen such steep declines. For example: in Greece the drop was 28 points (2013-2023), and in Italy about 23 points (2012-2022).

Among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD), the median share of adults who say religion is important in their daily life is 36 %. The U.S. is now moving closer to that level.

Globally, secularisation is also evident. According to the Gallup International Association report “Two Decades of Change”, the share of people identifying as religious declined from 68 % in 2005 to 56 % in 2024. At the same time those identifying as non-religious rose from 21 % to 28 %, and convinced atheists from 6 % to 10 %.
https://gallup-international.com/survey-results-and-news/survey-result/two-decades-of-change-global-religiosity-declines-while-atheism-rises 

In Europe specifically:

  • In Ireland, the share of the population identifying as Catholic fell from about 95% in 1961 to 69% in the 2022 census; the share with no religion rose to about 14 %.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland 

  • In Italy, regular church attendance dropped to about 18.8 % by 2023 in one survey, reflecting a marked decrease from previous decades.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_Italy

  • Broader European survey data show that in some countries the share of people “never attending religious service” exceeded 60 % (for example in the Czech Republic) while other more religious states had much lower non-attendance.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_attendance

These patterns illustrate how institutional religiosity — the importance of religion in daily life, regular service attendance, religious affiliation — is falling across many developed countries. The U.S. is now showing trends similar to those in parts of Western Europe: youth are less religious, and younger cohorts report lower levels of religious identity than older ones.

My interpretation of the above is that greater access to internet and seeing the toxic results of right-aligned voting patterns, especially in the youth, is producing a disinclination to support right-aligned policies such as religious interference in politics. We see this also in post-Franco spain. 

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