While South Korea has a significant Buddhist population, Christianity is the largest single religion, followed by Buddhism, with a large percentage of the population identifying as non-religious, according to recent surveys. Protestantism and Catholicism form the majority of Christians, while Shamanism and Confucianism also remain influential cultural traditions.
According to Pew Research Center (2010), about 46% of the population had no religious affiliation, 23% are Buddhist and 29% are Christians. According to 2015 national census, 56.1% are irreligious, Protestantism represents (19.7%) of the total population, Korean Buddhism (15.5%), and Catholicism (7.9%).
"Jesus" in Korean
The name of Jesus is expressed as 예수 (yesu), and Jesus Christ is 예수 그리스도 (yesu geuriseudo) in Korean.
Thus, the appeal of Christianity in Korea was partly spiritual, partly economic, because of its association with Western modernity (including modern education), and also partly nationalist, because it served as an expression of Korean civil society that was not completely under Japan's control.
South Korea also has the 5th largest population of atheists in the world, according to a 2012 Gallup International poll, which found that 15% of South Koreans were "convinced atheists." According to a 2021 Gallup Korea poll, 60% identify with no religion, 17% with Protestantism, 16% with Buddhism, 6% with Catholicism, ...
South Korea's 52-hour work rule caps most employees' weekly working hours at 52, consisting of 40 standard hours plus 12 allowed overtime hours, aiming to reduce overwork, improve work-life balance, and boost productivity by ending excessively long workweeks previously common in the country. Implemented in phases for different company sizes, this law applies to a seven-day week, including weekends, and was a major revision to the Labor Standards Act, phasing in from 2018 to 2021 for most businesses.
A 2023 Gallup International survey found that Sweden was the country with the highest percentage of citizens that stated they do not believe in a god. In 2020, the majority (78%) of the global nonreligious or unaffiliated demographic resided in Asia-Pacific.
In North Korea (No. 1 on Open Doors 2024 World Watch List) where Christians are considered a “hostile class,” owning a Bible is illegal. Having a Bible in their possession can be the “evidence” needed to arrest and imprison someone (and their family) for following Jesus.
Countries like China, India, and Indonesia have some of the world's fastest-growing Christian populations, with house churches, underground networks, and missionary influence playing key roles.
Etymology. "Korea" is the modern spelling of "Corea", a name attested in English as early as 1614. "Corea" is derived from the name of the ancient kingdom of Goryeo.
Sheol, abode of the dead in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament). The term can be interpreted to mean either the literal place in which dead people are placed (i.e., in the ground) or the ancient world's concept of the afterlife as a subterranean “land of gloom and deep darkness” (Book of Job 10:21).
According to the Korea Muslim Federation, there are about 200,000 Muslims living in South Korea, and about 70 to 80 percent are foreigners. Seoul alone has 40% of South Korea's total Muslim population. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has hosted an Iftar dinner during the month of Ramadan every year since 2004.
It is a multi-religious society, with Christianity, Buddhism, and various other religions coexisting alongside shamanism. Over the past century, Christianity has experienced substantial growth in South Korea, with approximately 20 percent of the population identifying as Christian.
In 1603, Yi Su-gwang, a Korean politician, returned from Beijing carrying several theological books written by Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary to China. He began disseminating the information in the books, introducing Christianity to Korea.
By 2050, Christianity is projected to remain the world's largest religion, but Islam is expected to nearly equal it in numbers, with both groups comprising around 30-31% of the global population, driven by higher birth rates in Muslim-majority areas and significant growth in Christian populations, particularly in developing regions, according to Pew Research Center analyses.
A comprehensive religious forecast for 2050 by the Pew Research Center predicts that the global Muslim population will grow at a faster rate than the Christian population – primarily due to the average younger age, and higher fertility rate of Muslims.
Most converts are former Hindus, though some are former Muslims. Since the 1960s, there has been a substantial increase in the number of conversions from Islam to Christianity, mostly to the Evangelical and Pentecostal denominations of Christianity.
According to one of the two rabbis in the country, there is a small Jewish population of approximately 1,000, almost all expatriates.
In North Korea, three major restrictions include consuming foreign media/accessing the global internet, criticizing the leadership or government, and leaving the country without permission, with other prohibitions covering specific hairstyles, photography of non-tourist sites, and altering government-issued electronics.
There is no church life in North Korea. It's impossible to gather for worship or prayer, and even secret worship and prayer is at great risk. Official spies could inform on you, if they have any indication that you are a Christian, and so could your neighbours or teachers.
The countries with the most people reporting no belief in any sort of spirit, god, or higher power are France (40%), Czech Republic (37%), Sweden (34%), Netherlands (30%), Estonia (29%), Germany (27%), Belgium (27%) and Slovenia (26%).
Humanists UK is the most prominent organisation espousing irreligion in the United Kingdom. The organisation reported recent polling suggesting that the population with no religion may have reached 34 million. In 2023, research from the World Value Survey found that only 49% of Britons said they believed in God.