South Korea

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in South Korea}}
{{See also|Irreligion in South Korea}}
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in South Korea (2015 census)<ref name="2015 Census">South Korea National Statistical Office's 19th Population and Housing Census (2015): [http://image.kmib.co.kr/online_image/2016/1219/201612191738_61220011145071_1.jpg "Religion organizations' statistics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010154915/http://image.kmib.co.kr/online_image/2016/1219/201612191738_61220011145071_1.jpg |date=10 October 2017 }}. Retrieved 20 December 2016</ref><ref name="ABC-CLIO">{{cite book |last1=Quinn |first1=Joseph Peter |editor1-last=Demy |editor1-first=Timothy J. |editor2-last=Shaw |editor2-first=Jeffrey M. |title=Religion and Contemporary Politics: A Global Encyclopedia |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-3933-7 |page=365 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vt-vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 |access-date=3 June 2020 |chapter=South Korea |archive-date=12 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412162632/https://books.google.com/books?id=vt-vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|label1 = Irreligious
|value1 = 56.1
|color1 = DarkRed
|label2 = [[Protestantism]]
|value2 = 19.7
|color2 = DodgerBlue
|label3 = [[Korean Buddhism]]
|value3 = 15.5
|color3 = Yellow
|label4 = [[Catholicism]]
|value4 = 7.9
|color4 = DarkOrchid
|label5 = Other
|value5 = 0.8
|color5 = Black
}}
According to the results of the census of 2015, more than half of the South Korean population (56.1%) declared themselves not affiliated with any [[organized religion|religious organizations]].<ref name="2015 Census" /> In a 2012 survey, 52% declared themselves "religious", 31% said they were "not religious" and 15% identified themselves as "convinced [[atheism|atheists]]".<ref>WIN-Gallup International: [http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf "Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism 2012"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021065544/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf |date=21 October 2013 }}.</ref> Of the people who are affiliated with a religious organization, most are [[Christianity|Christians]] and [[Korean Buddhism|Buddhists]]. According to the 2015 census, 27.6% of the population were Christians (19.7% identified themselves as Protestants, 7.9% as Roman Catholics) and 15.5% were Buddhists.<ref name="2015 Census" /> Other religions include [[Islam in South Korea|Islam]] (130,000 Muslims, mostly migrant workers from Pakistan and Bangladesh but including some 35,000 Korean Muslims<ref>{{cite news |title= Korea's Muslims Mark Ramadan |work=[[The Chosun Ilbo]] |location =Seoul |date=11 September 2008 |url= http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200809/200809110016.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080913195801/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200809/200809110016.html |archive-date=13 September 2008}}</ref>), the homegrown sect of [[Won Buddhism]], and a variety of indigenous religions, including [[Cheondoism]] (a [[Confucianism|Confucianizing]] religion), [[Jeungsanism]], [[Daejongism]], [[Daesun Jinrihoe]], and others. [[Freedom of religion]] is guaranteed by the constitution, and there is no [[state religion]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/english/welcome/republic.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323052835/http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/english/welcome/republic.jsp |archive-date=23 March 2008 |title=Constitution of the Republic of Korea |publisher=[[Constitutional Court of Korea]]}}</ref> Overall, between the 2005 and 2015 censuses, there has been a slight decline of Christianity (down from 29% to 27.6%), a sharp decline of Buddhism (down from 22.8% to 15.5%), and a rise of the unaffiliated population (from 47.2% to 56.9%).<ref name="2015 Census" />

Christianity is South Korea's largest organized religion, accounting for more than half of all South Korean adherents of religious organizations. There are approximately 13.5 million Christians in South Korea today; about two thirds of them belonging to Protestant churches, and the rest to the Catholic Church.<ref name="2015 Census" /> The number of Protestants had been stagnant throughout the 1990s and the 2000s but increased to a peak level throughout the 2010s. Roman Catholics increased significantly between the 1980s and the 2000s but declined throughout the 2010s.<ref name="2015 Census" /> Christianity, unlike in other East Asian countries, found fertile ground in Korea in the 18th century, and by the end of the 18th century it persuaded a large part of the population, as the declining monarchy supported it and opened the country to widespread [[proselytism]] as part of a project of Westernization. The weakness of Korean [[Korean shamanism|Sindo]], which—unlike Japanese [[Shinto]] and [[Chinese folk religion|China's religious system]]—never developed into a national religion of high status,<ref>Ogata, Mamoru Billy (1984). ''A Comparative Study of Church Growth in Korea and Japan: With Special Application to Japan''. Fuller Theological Seminary. pp. 32 ff.</ref> combined with the impoverished state of [[Korean Buddhism]], (after 500 years of suppression at the hands of the Joseon state, by the 20th century it was virtually extinct) left a free hand to Christian churches. Christianity's similarity to native religious narratives has been studied as another factor that contributed to its success in the peninsula.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://koreamosaic.net/articles/syncretism.pdf |title=Christianity, Shamanism, and Modernization in South Korea |last=Kim |first=Andrew Eungi |date=Spring–Summer 2000 |access-date=8 June 2013 |journal=[[CrossCurrents]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190338/http://koreamosaic.net/articles/syncretism.pdf |archive-date=10 January 2014}}</ref> The [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese colonization]] of the first half of the 20th century further strengthened the identification of Christianity with [[Korean nationalism]], as the Japanese coopted native Korean Sindo into the Nipponic [[Shinto in Korea|Imperial Shinto]] that they tried to establish in the peninsula.<ref name="Korean Social Sciences Journal">''Korean Social Sciences Journal'', '''24''' (1997). Korean Social Science Research Council. pp. 33–53</ref> Widespread Christianization of the Koreans took place during State Shinto,<ref name="Korean Social Sciences Journal" /> after its abolition, and then in the independent South Korea as the newly established military government supported Christianity and [[Anti-shamanism movement in Korea|tried to utterly oust]] native Sindo.

[[File:KOCIS Korea YeonDeungHoe 20130511 05 (8733836165).jpg|thumb|left|[[Buddha's Birthday]] celebration in Seoul]]
Among Christian denominations, [[Presbyterianism in South Korea|Presbyterianism]] is the largest. About nine million people belong to one of the hundred different Presbyterian churches; the biggest ones are the [[Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong)|HapDong Presbyterian Church]], [[Presbyterian Church of Korea (TongHap)|TongHap Presbyterian Church]] and the [[Kosin Presbyterian Church in Korea|Koshin Presbyterian Church]]. South Korea is also the second-largest missionary-sending nation, after the United States.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/003/16.28.html |title=Missions Incredible |last=Moll |first=Rob |work=Christianity Today |date=1 March 2006 |location=Carol Stream, IL |access-date=17 February 2009 |archive-date=25 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125053444/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/march/16.28.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the 4th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/country/027-korea.htm |title=Buddhism in Korea |work=Korean Buddhism Magazine |location=Seoul |year=1997 |access-date=17 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426080342/http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/country/027-korea.htm |archive-date=26 April 2009}}</ref> It soon became a dominant religion in the southeastern kingdom of Silla, the region that hitherto hosts the strongest concentration of Buddhists in South Korea. In the other states of the Three Kingdoms Period, Goguryeo and Baekje, it was made the state religion respectively in 372 and 528. It remained the state religion in Later Silla and Goryeo. It was later suppressed throughout much of the subsequent history under the unified kingdom of Joseon, which officially adopted a strict [[Korean Confucianism]]. Today, South Korea has about 7 million Buddhists,<ref name="2015 Census" /> most of them affiliated to the [[Jogye Order]]. Most of the [[National Treasure (South Korea)|National Treasures of South Korea]] are Buddhist artifacts.