The number of church members in the US has fallen below the majority for the first time in the country's history, according to a Gallup report.
The poll, which was released on Monday (March 29), indicated that in 2020, just 47% of Americans belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque. This was down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.
The very first Gallup poll on church membership in 1937 demonstrated that 73% of people in the US belonged to a place of worship. For about six decades after the initial report, the figure remained at around 70%.
However, around the turn of the 21st century, church membership began experiencing a consistent decline, the report shows.
The decline in religious membership can be attributed to the fact that more Americans do not regard themselves as religious.
The report indicates that over the past 20 years, the percentage of people in the States who do not identify with any religion has increased from 8% between 1998-2000 to 13% between 2008-2010, and 21% over the past three years.
The reduction in church members can also be attributed to the fact there are more people who still have a religious affiliation - but do not feel the need to have formal church membership.
Between 1998 and 2000, about 73% of religious Americans were members of a church, synagogue, or mosque. However, in the last three years, this has dropped to 60%.
Gallup notes that there are generational differences when it comes to religious affiliation, with younger people tending to be less religious than their more senior counterparts.
Sixty-six percent of those before 1946 belong to a church, compared to 58% of baby boomers, 50% of those in Generation X, and 36% of millennials.
Gallup states that their data indicates that Generation Z adults have similar membership rates to Millenials.
The report also explained which major denominations saw the steepest decline in membership. According to Gallup, the decrease in church membership was most substantial among those from the Catholic faith.
Overall, Catholic church membership fell from 76% to 58% and Protestant church membership saw a smaller decline from 73% to 64%.
There was not enough data to record the decline in membership among other religions, the analytics company stated.
