UNITED STATES, June 17, 2024 (Pew Research Center): By some measures, East Asia seems like one of the least religious regions in the world. (“East Asia” includes China, Japan, Mongolia, the Koreas and Taiwan) Relatively few East Asian adults pray daily or say religion is very important in their lives. And rates of disaffiliation – people leaving religion – are among the highest in the world, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of more than 10,000 adults in East Asia and neighboring Vietnam. Yet, the survey also finds that many people across the region continue to hold religious or spiritual beliefs and to engage in traditional rituals. Large numbers of adults across the region – ranging from 27% in Taiwan to 61% in Hong Kong – say they have “no religion.” But even among these religiously unaffiliated people, half or more leave offerings for deceased ancestors; at least four-in-ten believe in God or unseen beings; and a quarter or more say that mountains, rivers or trees have spirits. In short, when we measure religion in these societies by what people believe and do, rather than whether they say they have a religion, the region is more religiously vibrant than it might initially seem.

The survey included a few questions that have long been used to measure religious observance in other parts of the world, such as how important religion is in people’s lives. But this report places more emphasis on new questions designed to measure beliefs and practices that are relatively common in Asian societies, including: ancestor veneration; the presence of spirits in the natural world; offering respects to Deities and religious figures; beliefs about life after death; and personal connections to religion aside from identity..

More at source.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/06/17/religion-and-spirituality-in-east-asian-societies/

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