Traditionally Catholic Ireland has registered almost the steepest drop worldwide in people calling themselves religious in a new survey tracking international trends in faith and atheism in recent years.
Only 47 per cent of Irish polled said they were religious people, a 22-point drop from the 69 per cent recorded in the last similar poll in 2005, according to the WIN-Gallup International pollsters.
Average religiosity in the 57 countries included in the poll was 59 per cent, a decline of nine points since 2005, it said.
The number of people declaring themselves to be convinced atheists rose from four per cent in 2005 to seven per cent this year. The biggest growth was in France. -
