Buddhist monks pray in Seoul
© AFP/File Kim Jae-Hwan

SEOUL (AFP) - The National Statistical Office report said 25.17 million people held religious beliefs in 2005, about 53 percent of the population. This compared to 22.56 million in 1995, or 50.7 percent of the population.

The number of Catholics nearly doubled to 5.14 million in 2005 from 2.95 million a decade earlier. The religion accounted for 10.9 percent of the population compared to 6.6 percent in 1995.

Buddhism and Protestantism, the number one and number two faiths respectively, both saw a decline in followers over the same period relative to the total population.

At the end of 2005 the number of Buddhists came to 10.72 million, up from 10.32 million a decade before. But the ratio to the total population fell slightly to 22.8 percent from 23.2 percent.

Protestants decreased both in number and ratio, according to the survey. Its followers fell to 8.61 million from 8.76 million and the ratio declined to 18.3 percent from 19.7 percent.

There were also a small number of followers of Confucianism and other beliefs.

The number of South Koreans with no religious beliefs was 46.5 percent of the population in 2005 compared to 49.3 percent a decade earlier. The figure is much higher than the global average of around 15 percent for non-believers, the report noted.

©AFP