It is estimated that around 20 per cent or more of adults in countries across East Asia, Europe and the Americas have left the religion of their childhoods, according to a new study.
Christianity and Buddhism have had the largest losses, with Spain experiencing the greatest haemorrhaging, among European countries, of people from their religious roots. Among Western developed countries, the US remains relatively stable in terms of people holding onto the religion in which they were raised.
The study found that most of the religious loss or switching in each country surveyed has been by people who were raised in religion, with the most common occurrence of religious disaffiliation being among those who were raised Christian.
