Just 49% of Britons said they believed in God in 2022, down from 75% in 1981.
The UK public are now among the least likely internationally to believe in God, following a long-term decline in belief since the 1980s, according to new study by the Policy Institute at King’s College London.
Lower levels of belief among young people are helping drive this trend.
However, while young people are less likely to believe in God and heaven they are about as likely to believe in life after death as older generations, and more likely to believe in hell.
In 1981, 57% of Britons considered themselves religious. By 2022, this had nearly halved, falling to 32%.
Only those in Sweden (27%), South Korea (16%), China (16%) and Japan (14%) are less likely than people in the UK to consider themselves religious.
Of 24 nations in the study, only five are now less likely than the UK to say they believe in God, with China (17%) by far the least likely to.
Since 1981 the proportion of people who see themselves as an atheist has increased from 4% to 21%, with a notable uptick between 2018 and 2022.
But while the country is becoming less religious, the UK is second only to Sweden for trust in people of different faiths, and has high religious tolerance.
Responding to the survey 82% of the UK public say they trust people of a different religion – the second highest of 24 nations, behind only Sweden (87%) and on a par with Norway (82%).
Belief in heaven has decreased over the same period, but belief in life after death and hell has remained stable, with younger generations more inclined to believe in both – despite being less religious generally.
Just under half of the public – including 46% in 2022 – consistently say they believe in life after death.
Indeed, despite their lack of faith, a majority of Gen Z and Millenials say they believed in life after death while the more religious Baby Boomers and Pre-War Generation were less likely to believe.
However, between 1981 and 2022, the share of the public believing in heaven fell from 57% to 41%.
The number of people believing in hell has remained roughly stable, with 26% of people saying they believed in 2022. Curiously, Gen Z and Millenials are more likely to believed in hell than older generations.
Trust in religious institutions has also rebounded slightly.
Between 1981 and 2018, Britons’ confidence in churches and religious organisations fell from 49% to 31%, but by 2022 had risen again, to 42%. However, of 24 countries, the UK still ranks among the bottom half for confidence in such institutions.
David Voas, professor of social science at UCL, said: “The findings point to both the long-established erosion of religious involvement and to some interesting complexity in our self-perception and who believes what.”
“The main story remains that most people in Britain aren’t very interested in religion. That said, the glass remains half full when it comes to belief in God or life after death.”
“Adults under 40 are much more likely than older people to call themselves atheists, but also to say that they believe in hell, which is a fascinating puzzle.”
“While the British seem comfortable with their widely shared lack of religiosity, they have little objection to others being different, at least so long as religion doesn’t intrude into public affairs.”
Bobby Duffy, professor of public policy and director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, said: “Our cultural attachment to organised religion has continued to decline in the UK – but our belief that there is something beyond this life is holding strong, including among the youngest generations.”
“This reflects a long-term pattern, where those who feel actively connected to organised religions have moved from a ‘conscript’ army in previous decades, where many more felt it was an automatic part of life, to a more ‘professional’ army, which are fewer in number but more dedicated in practice.”
“This is an important period in the development of religiosity and spirituality in western countries like the UK, where the findings show that while the youngest generations continue to have lower attachment to formal religion, many of them have similar or even greater need to believe that there is ‘more than this’.”
The analysis was carried out as part of the World Values Survey (WVS), one of the largest and most widely used academic social surveys in the world, in operation since 1981. The latest UK data was collected in 2022, with data for other nations collected at various points throughout the latest wave of the WVS, which spanned 2017 to 2022.
