Despite a downtick in the percentage of the U.S. population identifying as Christian since 2008, America remains a predominantly Christian nation with 94 percent (94%) of those who identify with a religion stating that they are Christian, according to Gallup.
“[A] review of over 174,000 interviews conducted in 2015 shows that three-quarters of American adults identify with a Christian religion, little changed from 2014, but down from 80% eight years ago,” says Gallup. “About 5% of Americans identify with a non-Christian religion, while 20% have no formal religious identification, which is up five percentage points since 2008.”
In 2008, 80 percent (80.1%) of Americans said they identified as Christian. In 2015, a lower percentage of Americans (75.2%) identified as Christian. Meanwhile, 14.6 percent (14.6%) of Americans identified as “None” in 2008, and nearly 20 percent (19.6%) of Americans identified as “None” in 2015. Americans identifying with a “Non-Christian religion” remained relatively the same during the same periods, roughly five percent (5.3% in 2008 and 5.1% in 2015).
The survey results include a broad Christian category including Catholics, Protestants, Mormons and non-denominational Christians. In 2015, 24 percent (24%) of Americans identify as Catholic, 50 percent (50%) as Protestant or as members of some other non-Catholic Christian religion, and two percent (2%) identifying as Mormon.
The percentage of Americans identifying as Christian tends to be highest among older Americans with the percentage generally decreasing with each progressively younger age group. 89 percent (the largest percentage) of Americans age 80-84 identify as Christian, whereas a mere 62 percent (tied for the smallest percentage) of Americans age 18-24 identify as Christian.
The bottom line, says Gallup, is that “America remains a predominantly Christian nation, with three-quarters of all adults identifying with a Christian faith, and with over 90% Christian representation among those who say they are a member of any kind of religion.”
See Gallup for more data, survey methods and Gallup Analytics.