The share of Americans who do not identify with a religion has grown dramatically and now surpasses every affiliation except evangelical Protestants, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Pew Research Center found that 22.8% of Americans were religiously unaffiliated last year — up from 16.1% in 2007. That group includes atheists, agnostics and those who chose “nothing in particular.”
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Evangelical Protestants made up 25.4% of the adult population, down slightly from 26.3% in 2007. Catholics declined to 20.8% from 23.9%, and mainline Protestants to 14.7% from 18.1%.
In all, roughly seven in 10 Americans identified with some branch of Christianity, down from almost eight in 10 in 2007. The share of Americans who identify with a non-Christian faith grew to 5.9%, with pronounced growth among Muslims and Hindus.
Pew found that the drop in Christian affiliation held for all age groups but especially among young adults.
The survey was conducted over four months last year and included 35,000 adults. Share of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated jumped from 16.1% in 2007 to 22.8% in 2014 http://t.co/ybR4e8ydJh pic.twitter.com/GdVd6FdwMz Religious switching: Unaffiliated make big gains, Catholics suffer major losses http://t.co/kIBVpwqHlT pic.twitter.com/aBi8054JCY This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
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