Atheists Likely to Outnumber Christians in England in 20 Years

Religion Today | Published: Mar 10, 2012

Atheists Likely to Outnumber Christians in England in 20 Years

March 12, 2012

According to a new study, Christianity is waning in England and could be outnumbered by nonbelievers within 20 years, the Religion News Service reports. The study, conducted by the British Parliament, showed there were 41 million Christians in Britain, down nearly 8 percent since 2004. Meanwhile, the number of nonbelievers was 13.4 million, up 49 percent over the same period. Researchers at the House of Commons Library concluded Christianity had declined to 69 percent of the population while atheists had increased to 22 percent. "If these populations continue to shrink and grow by the same number of people each year, the number of people with no religion will overtake the number of Christians in Great Britain in 20 years," the study said. It also found that from 2004-2010, the number of Muslims in England grew by 37 percent, to 2.6 million. The Hindu and Buddhist populations also grew substantially, and the number of Jews slightly decreased.

Atheists Likely to Outnumber Christians in England in 20 Years