Ireland’s empty pews

A decade of Catholic Church scandals seems to have taken a toll:  Only 47 percent of Irish polled said they were religious people, a 22-point drop from the 69 percent recorded in the last similar poll in 2005, according to the WIN-Gallup International network of opinion pollsters. Average religiosity in the 57 countries included in ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

A decade of Catholic Church scandals seems to have taken a toll

A decade of Catholic Church scandals seems to have taken a toll

Only 47 percent of Irish polled said they were religious people, a 22-point drop from the 69 percent recorded in the last similar poll in 2005, according to the WIN-Gallup International network of opinion pollsters.

Average religiosity in the 57 countries included in the poll was 59 percent, a decline of 9 points since 2005, it said.

The country with the most religious people, according to the poll, is Ghana at 96 percent. Japan has the most atheists at 31 percent. 

It will be interesting to see how much longer Ireland’s highly restrictive abortion laws will stay in place with the church’s power diminishing and an increasing number of women traveling abroad for abortions.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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