Geographical and Demographic Approaches to Leaving Religion

Geographical and demographic approaches to leaving religion seek to understand processes of religious conversion and change across space and the human lifecycle. Geographical approaches have considered how structural shifts - such as those associated with social modernisation, communism and secularisation - have brought about large-scale departures from religion. Recently, these approaches have become more granular, and have considered the ways in which space can be a mediator and outcome of religious activity. Demographic approaches have considered how the propensity to leave religion intersects with life events, human development and other forms of population profiling. As such, they attempt to predict when individuals are likely to leave religion, but do not necessarily explain why.