Less than half of Americans say faith important in daily life, survey shows

A new survey finds a dramatic decline in the number of American adults who say religion is an important part of their daily lives.

Gallup said it found Less than half (49%) of American adults say faith is an important part of their lives, marking a 17-point decline since 2015. The decline in the value placed on faith was one of the largest declines recorded in any country in any 10-year period since 2007, the pollster said. Over the past 18 years, only 14 of the more than 160 countries in the World Survey have seen declines of more than 15 percent in any 10-year period.

There are only a handful of wealthy countries in the U.S. that posted larger declines, including Greece, Italy and Poland. Greece saw a 28-point decline in religious importance from 2013 to 2023, while Poland saw a 22-point decline over the same period. Italy experienced a 23-point decrease from 2012 to 2022.

There are other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries that have experienced similar declines in religious importance; for example, Chile’s 20-point decrease, Türkiye’s 18-point decrease and Portugal’s 17-point decrease.

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Globally, religiosity has remained fairly stable. Gallup reports that the global average for religiosity since 2007 has averaged 81%. That figure reached 83% last year, which the survey firm noted was the most recent full-year data available.

Beyond the sharp decline in religiosity, the U.S. has fallen out of all four categories that Gallup previously found most countries to fit into. According to Gallup, these include “high religiosity with Christian identification; high religiosity with another religious identity (generally Muslim majority, although there are a few countries in the Middle East where Gallup does not ask religious identity questions); low religiosity with Christian identity; or low religiosity without religious identification.”

A recent Gallup poll found a sharp decline in the number of American adults who say religion plays an important role in their daily lives. (Hleb Usovich/iStock via Getty Images)

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The polling company said the United States has a medium-to-high level of Christian identity, but moderate levels of religiosity. Gallup noted that although the number of Americans who identify as Christians is similar to other Western and Northern European nations, religion plays a larger role in Americans’ lives than it does for people in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Germany.

Meanwhile, the importance of religion in Americans’ daily lives is similar to that of people in Argentina, Ireland, Poland and Italy, where Catholicism is more influential, according to Gallup. However, far fewer Americans identify as Christians than people in these countries.

Then-President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., bow their heads in prayer during the inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson – Pool/Getty Images)

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As religiosity declines among American adults, Trump administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, who is Catholic, have talked about the importance of faith.

In his first public appearance since being sworn in as vice president, Vance attended the March for Life in Washington, DC. While Vance’s openness about his faith appears to be in stark contrast to the poll, this may reflect Gallup’s classification of the United States as a place with medium-to-high Christian identification but moderate levels of religiosity.