Percentage of People Who Believe In Life After Death

The two maps here were created by The World Maps. The one above looks at percentage of people who believe in life after death around the world. Data comes from the World Values Survey conducted between 2017 and 2022.

The countries are color-coded according to the percentage range of people who hold this belief:

Purple (90.0 – 98.8%): The highest percentage of believers is found in countries like Bangladesh (98.8%), Morocco (96.2%), Libya (95.2%), and Iran (91.3%).
Dark Orange (80.0 – 89.9%): Countries with a high percentage of believers include Nigeria (83.2%), Kenya (83.0%), Philippines (83.8%), Ethiopia (82.4%), and Malaysia (81.9%).
Orange (70.0 – 79.9%): Countries in this range include Mexico (70.8%), Bolivia (70.3%), Zimbabwe (78.7%), and Indonesia (73.5%).
Yellow (60.0 – 69.9%): The belief is held by a moderate majority in countries like USA (68.2%), Chile (61.8%), Colombia (61.6%), and Peru (61.8%).
Green (50.0 – 59.9%): In this range, we see Canada (56.9%), Venezuela (57.2%), Thailand (57.1%), Australia (53.8%), and Iceland (58.0%).
Dark Green (40.0 – 49.9%): Countries like UK (41.7%), France, Italy and Greece.
Teal (30.0 – 39.9%): Japan (32.2%), Vietnam (34.1%), New Zealand (38.9%), and Spain (38.1%) show lower belief levels.
Very Dark Green (11.5 – 19.9%): China (11.5%) is at the lowest end of the belief spectrum, indicating that belief in life after death is significantly less common here.

Some interesting observations:

China has the lowest percentage of believers in life after death at 11.5%.
Bangladesh shows the highest level of belief, with 98.8% of the population believing in life after death.
The USA has a relatively high belief percentage at 68.2%, similar to many countries in Latin America and Africa and higher than mlst of Europe.

The map below takes a closer look at European countries.

This map focuses specifically on belief in life after death across European countries, again with data from the World Values Survey (2017-2022).

The countries are color-coded to show the percentage of people who believe in life after death:

Purple (>70%): Turkey (91.8%) has by far the highest belief percentage.
Yellow (60.0 – 69.9%): Bosnia (65.9%) and Poland (64.2%) fall within this range, indicating a high level of belief.
Light Green (50.0 – 59.9%): Countries like Romania (55.2%), Switzerland (50.4%), Austria (50.1%), and Croatia (51.3%) are in this category.
Dark Green (40.0 – 49.9%): Many Western and Central European countries fall within this range, including France (41.2%), , Italy (49.4%), UK (41.7%), Greece (47.7%), Slovakia (46.8%) and Ukraine (40.1%).
Teal (30.0 – 39.9%): Belief is lower in countries like Germany (39.4%), Sweden (37.8%), Norway (39.3%), Finland (35.5%), Denmark (39.8%), Netherlands (34.0%), Spain (38.1%), Portugal (32.9%) and Russia (38.7%).
Blue (22.7 – 29.9%): The lowest belief levels are found in countries like Bulgaria (25.0%) and Albania (22.7%).

Key Observations:

The map reveals a clear divide between Turkey and everyone else. Poland, the next highest country, is almost 30 percentage points lower in belief.
In contrast, the Nordic countries and Western European nations like the Netherlands, Belgium, and France have much lower levels of belief, with some regions only showing belief levels around 30-40%.

Yet overall, there doesn’t seem to be a strong geographic divide in Europe, the second lowest country in belief borders the highest. Muslim Albania is the lowest while Muslim Turkey is the highest. Catholic Poland has almost double the belief than Catholic Portugal.

Which country surprised you the most?