The number of atheists in Russia has doubled from 7% to 14% in just four years, with less than half of those under the age of 25 declaring themselves to be Orthodox Christian, compared to 66% for the population as a whole.
That’s according to a new poll from WCIOM, which revealed that faith in a Christian God is dropping with each generation.
On the contrary, Islam has held steady, remaining at around 6% of the entire population. Unlike Christianity, the popularity of the Muslim faith is far more prevalent in the young than the old, with under 25s having double (12%) the proportion of believers compared the country as a whole.
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According to the study, in 2017, 7% of Russians called themselves atheists. This has now risen to 14%. This has come at the expense of Orthodox Christianity, with the 2017 figure of 75% dropping to 66%. Islam has held steady at 6%.
Other recorded religions included Buddhism (1%) and Protestantism (1%), with Catholicism receiving 0%.
Interestingly, the age ranges most likely to consider themselves atheists are 18-24, 25-35, and 60+. The figure for the oldest group may reflect a generation growing up before the fall of the Soviet Union, where state atheism was an official policy.
Last summer, Russian citizens voted in favor of a packet of amendments to the country’s constitution. One of the most controversial additions was to explicitly mention faith in God as a core belief of the country.
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