Half of teenagers are atheists

Nearly half of teenagers in Britain are atheists, according to a new Mori poll commissioned by the British Library.

43% of 16–19 year olds say they have no faith. In those over 20 it is 20%, and that goes down to 8% in the 65+ age group. Overall, 21% of the 2,030 people questioned say they have no faith. Of those who do not follow a religion, around one third say they used to be Christian (32%), while three in five have never followed a religion in the past (58%).

"Does this mean people tend to find faith or become more religious as they get older – or, alternatively, does it mean that the younger generation are increasingly less likely to follow a religion or have any belief?" said a British Library spokesperson. Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society responded: “This British Library spokesperson clearly hasn’t been paying attention, or they would know that academics have resoundingly concluded that it is the latter. An exhaustive study of Scottish census data confirmed this.”

Among those with a religion, around half "try to practise it a great deal or a fair amount in everyday life" (49%), although a similar proportion say they "do not practise religion very much, if at all" (50%).

Those aged 20 or over are more likely than those aged 16–19 to practise religion (50%, vs. 35%); women are also more likely to practise religion (54%, vs. 44% of men), as are those in higher socio-economic groups – 57% of ABs say this, compared to fewer than half of C2DEs (45%).

Looking at the different religions, Muslims are twice as likely to say that they try to practise religion "a great deal" or "a fair amount" in their day to day lives than Christians (92% vs. 46%).

Similarly, Muslims are much more likely to see religion as "relevant to their life" than Christians (95% vs. 54%), with fewer than half of the people polled saying this overall (43%). The 16–19 year olds are most likely to describe religion as "not relevant" (72% vs. 54% of those aged 20+). Nearly a quarter of those polled say that religion is relevant at all times in their lives (23%); this increases to a third among those aged 65+ (33%) , but falls to 14% among 16–19 year olds . Around a quarter of all people asked say that religion is never relevant (23%).

The event most likely to make religion more pertinent to people's lives is the death of a family member (45%). A further third cite weddings as important (31%), with a quarter mentioning the birth of a child (24%).