Irreligion in Kazakhstan

Share of nonbelievers by rayons and cities 2009

According to the 2021 census, only 2.25% of the population said they were Atheist, a decrease from the 2009 Census.[1] According to one study, Atheists constituted 18.8% of those who participated in the 2019 study, which was conducted by a government-affiliated think tank. However, another 2019 CRA study shows that 92.8 percent of the population self-identified as religious.[2][3][4][5][6]

Religious affiliation of the population of Kazakhstan
(estimate 2020[7])
Religious affiliation of the responders Population
Share
of the population
%
Islam 12,870,000 70.19
Christianity 4,130,000 26.17
Judaism < 10,000 0.03
Buddhism 60,000 0.09
Other religions 90,000 0.19
No religion 720,000 2.81
Did not answer < 10,000 0.51
Total 17,880,000 100.00
Religious affiliation of ethnic groups in Kazakhstan
(preliminary results of the 2009 census[8])
Ethnic group Islam Christianity Judaism Buddhism other religions unbelievers did not answer total
Kazakhs 9928705 39172 1929 749 1612 98511 26085 10096763
Russians 54277 3476748 1452 730 1011 230935 28611 3793764
Uzbeks 452668 1794 34 28 78 1673 722 456997
Ukrainians 3134 302199 108 49 74 24329 3138 333031
Uighurs 221007 1142 34 33 63 1377 1057 224713
Tatars 162496 20913 47 58 123 16569 4023 204229
Germans 2827 145556 89 66 192 24905 4774 178409
Koreans 5256 49543 211 11446 138 28615 5176 100385
Turks 96172 290 7 6 20 321 199 97015
Azerbaijanis 80864 2139 16 16 24 1586 647 85292
Belarusians 526 59936 25 9 20 5198 762 66476
Dungan 51388 191 4 15 19 179 148 51944
Kurds 37667 203 11 6 9 285 144 38325
Tajiks 35473 331 2 6 30 307 128 36277
Poles 235 30675 14 4 45 2486 598 34057
Chechens 29448 940 6 3 16 653 365 31431
Kirghiz 22500 206 6 6 4 352 200 23274
Other nationalities 54533 82254 1286 1433 210 13266 4233 157215
All: 11239176 4214232 5281 14663 3688 451547 81010 16009597
  1. ^ "How the Number of Believers Changed in Kazakhstan". 30 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Казахстан-Спектр №1 - 2019 год". Archived from the original on 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  3. ^ "Чем атеисты Казахстана отличаются от верующих - исследование". 28 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Люди без религии. В Казахстане растет количество атеистов". September 2019.
  5. ^ "People Without Religion. Number of Atheists Grows in Kazakhstan". CABAR.asia. 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  6. ^ Kazakhstan, U. S. Mission (2022-06-03). "2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Kazakhstan". U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Kazakhstan. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  7. ^ "Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050". www.pewforum.org. 2 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  8. ^ Итоги национальной переписи населения 2009 года. Национальный состав, вероисповедание и владения языками в Республике Казахстан[permanent dead link‍]