Gallup: Drop in U.S. Religiosity Among Largest in World

WASHINGTON — The share of U.S. adults who consider religion an important part of their daily lives has dropped dramatically over the past decade and a half, falling from 66% in 2015 to just 49% today. This 17-point decline is one of the largest recorded by Gallup in any country over a ten-year span since 2007.

Currently, roughly half of Americans say religion plays little or no role in their daily routines, reflecting a persistent division on the issue similar to that seen last year. Such steep declines in religiosity are rare globally. Since 2007, only 14 out of more than 160 countries surveyed by Gallup have experienced drops exceeding 15 percentage points over a decade. Among the few nations that have seen even steeper declines are Greece (28 points from 2013–2023), Italy (23 points from 2012–2022), and Poland (22 points from 2013–2023). Other countries, including Chile, Türkiye, and Portugal, have recorded decreases comparable to the U.S. trend.

As religion’s role in daily life has diminished in the U.S., the country’s position relative to the global median for religiosity has shifted. While the global median has remained steady at around 81% since 2007, the U.S. now falls well below that benchmark. At the same time, the U.S. is converging with other advanced economies. In 2024, the median religiosity across the 38 OECD countries was 36%, bringing U.S. figures closer to those nations than at any point in Gallup’s historical data.

The decline has also left the U.S. in a unique position globally. Most countries typically fit into one of four categories: high religiosity with a Christian majority, high religiosity with a non-Christian majority (often Muslim), low religiosity with a Christian majority, or low religiosity with little or no religious identity. The U.S., however, now has a medium-high Christian identity combined with moderate religiosity, making it an outlier. While the percentage of Americans identifying as Christian resembles that of Western and Northern European nations such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, and Denmark, religion still exerts a stronger influence on daily life in the U.S. than in those countries. Conversely, the level of religiosity in the U.S. resembles countries with historically strong Catholic traditions, such as Argentina, Ireland, Poland, and Italy, even though fewer Americans identify as Christian than in those nations.

This represents a marked shift from 2008, when Gallup first began consistently tracking religious identity and daily religious practice globally. At that time, the U.S. more closely resembled countries with high religiosity and widespread Christian identification.

Overall, the long-term decline in U.S. religiosity is evident in multiple measures, including religious identification, church attendance, and membership. Religion now occupies a smaller role in Americans’ lives than it did in the past. In a global context, this decline is significant: few countries have experienced drops of similar magnitude since 2007. The U.S. now lags behind the global median for religiosity, though it remains more religious than many of its economic peers, positioning it as a distinctive case in the modern religious landscape.

Source: GALLUP