Irreligion in Germany

Irreligion is prevalent in Germany. As of 2009, more Germans are non-believers in Eastern Germany than Western Germany.[1][2] When taken overall, Germany is a remarkably secular nation, though in spite of this, many areas in Western Germany don't have demographics of irreligion comparable to that of several nearby European countries.[3][4]

Largest world view according to the 2011 census

  Protestant

  Catholic

  predominantly Atheist and non-religious

Dark: absolute majority (>50%)
Light: relative majority (33.3 – 50%)

Non-religious population according to the 2011 census (including other religions and not specified)

Eastern Germany is perhaps the least religious region in the world.[5][6] Atheism is embraced by young and old, though even more so by younger Germans.[7] One study in September 2012 was unable to find a single person under 28 who believes in God.[8] An explanation for this, popular in other regions, is the aggressive state atheist policies of German Democratic Republic's Socialist Unity Party of Germany. However, the enforcement of atheism existed only for the first few years. After that, the state allowed churches to have a relatively high level of autonomy.[9] As those born after reunification, the oldest of whom would be about 28 in 2018, never directly experienced it, the argument that the DDR could be an influence in their lack of belief is problematic.

Also, the same high numbers of atheists do not exist in Western Germany, other European countries that have a history of state communism and Northern Europe generally.

Another explanation could be the secularizing trend (the "Kulturkampf") dating back to the second half of the 19th century in Prussia and through the Weimar Republic which was strongest in the states of Thuringia and Saxony as well as the late arrival of Christianity to the region as opposed to southern Europe where it was the state religion from late antiquity.

Christianity still has a notable presence in the rest of Germany, though a majority of the population in the Northern Bundesländer Hamburg and Bremen are not registered members of the main Catholic and Protestant churches.[10][11]

A 2019 estimate shows that 38.8% of the German population were nonconfessional, not member of a religious group.[12]

State[13]	Not religious (2011)	Percent of the population
Saxony-Anhalt	1,805,960	79.6%
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	1,229,350	77.5%
Brandenburg	1,858,370	76.2%
Saxony	2,908,420	72.6%
Thuringia	1,433,690	66.0%
Berlin	2,045,340	62.6%
Hamburg	827,180	48.9%
Bremen	251,770	38.9%
Schleswig-Holstein	955,190	34.3%
Germany	26,265,880	33.0%
Hesse	1,610,090	27.1%
Lower Saxony	1,992,670	25.8%
North Rhine-Westphalia	3,930,270	22.5%
Baden-Württemberg	2,248,600	21.6%
Bavaria	2,317,860	18.8%
Rhineland-Palatinate	720,000	18.1%
Saarland	131,120	13.2%