People raised as Christians or Buddhists are more likely to change their faith

People raised as Christians or Buddhists are more likely to experience “religious switching,” meaning they change their faith or stop believing as adults, compared to those from other religions (e.g., Muslims), according to a new study by Pew Research Center involving 80,000 people from 36 countries. Most of them stop believing, becoming atheists, agnostics, or disengaging from religion, while fewer adopt a different faith.

In some countries, this phenomenon is rare. In India, Israel, Nigeria, and Thailand, 95% of people report belonging to the same religion they followed as children, whereas in regions like East Asia, Western Europe, and North and South America, it is more common. Specifically, 50% of adults in South Korea, 36% in the Netherlands, and 28% in the U.S. no longer identify with the religion of their childhood.

Fifty percent of adults in South Korea, 36% in the Netherlands, and 28% in the U.S. no longer identify with the religion they were raised with.

In Greece, 14% of respondents (85.7% of whom initially identified as Christians) experienced “religious switching” in adulthood, with 12% saying they stopped believing.

Greece is one of the three countries (along with Colombia and Italy) with the highest levels of “switching” from religious to non-religious, as 9 out of 10 adults who no longer believe grew up in a religious environment.