Non-believers soar, Muslims increase in Switzerland: data

GENEVA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland was once considered a predominantly Christian nation, but data released by the Swiss government on Wednesday showed that the number of permanent residents without a religious faith has more than doubled since 2000.

The Federal Statistical Office's data showed that Christianity is on the decline and followers of Islam are increasing gradually.

The percentage of residents who identified as non-believers jumped from 11.4 percent in 2000 to 24.9 percent in 2016.

A third of these non-believers identified as atheists while a quarter declared themselves to be agnostic (unsure if a God existed or not).

The proportion of Protestant Christians declined the most of all religious groups.

Women were more likely to have metaphysical beliefs with 58 percent (compared with 37 percent of men) believing in fairies or supernatural beings. Enditem