Editing Demographics of France (section)

==Religion==
{{Main|Religion in France}}
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in France in 2017 by [[Ipsos]] (Ipsos Group)<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20171019192134/https://www.reforme.net/actualite/societe/sondage-les-protestants-en-france-en-2017-1-qui-sont-les-protestants/ Les protestants en France en 2017]'' Ipsos.</ref>{{clarify|It doesn't match the 5 mill Muslims of the text.|date=September 2023}}
|label1 = [[Catholic Church in France|Catholicism]]
|value1 = 57.5
|color1 = red
|label2 = [[Irreligion in France|No religion]]
|value2 = 35.0
|color2 = White
|label3 = Other religion
|value3 = 3.5
|color3 = Green
|label4 = Protestant
|value4 = 3
|color4 = purple
|label5 = Unanswered
|value5 = 1.0
|color5 = Black
}}
France has not collected religious or ethnic data in its censuses since the beginning of the [[French Third Republic|Third Republic]],<ref name="Oppenheimer" /><ref name=":1">{{cite web |last=Shendruk |first=Amanda |date=2021-07-08 |title=Are you even trying to stop racism if you don't collect data on race? |url=https://qz.com/2029525/the-20-countries-that-dont-collect-racial-and-ethnic-census-data/ |access-date=2022-07-04 |website=Quartz |language=en}}</ref> but the country's predominant faith has been Roman Catholicism since the early Middle Ages. Church attendance is fairly low, however, and the proportion of the population that is not religious has grown over the past century. A 2004 [[IFOP]] survey tallied that 44% of the French people did not believe in God; contrasted to 20% in 1947.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifop.com/europe/sondages/opinionf/croyances.asp |title=Les croyances des Français|access-date=12 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022022113/http://www.ifop.com/europe/sondages/opinionf/croyances.asp |archive-date=22 October 2006  }}</ref> A study by the [[CSA Institute]] conducted in 2003 with a sample of 18,000 people found that 65.3% considered themselves Roman Catholic, while 27% considered themselves atheists, and 12.7% (8,065,000 people) belonged to a religion other than Catholicism.

In the early 21st century there were an estimated 5 million Muslims in France,<ref>In 2003, the French Ministry of the Interior estimated the total number of Muslims as 5–6 million whereas the "Front National" spoke about 8 million, in Jonathan Laurence and [[:fr:Justin Vaïsse|Justin Vaïsse]],''Intégrer l'Islam'', Odile Jacob, 2007</ref> one million Protestants, 600,000 Buddhists, 491,000 Jews,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html|title=Jewish Population of the World|website=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref> and 150,000 Orthodox Christians.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} The US State Department's ''International Religious Freedom Report 2004''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf|title=International Religious Freedom|website=State.gov|date=22 September 2008 |access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref> estimated the French Hindu population at 181,312. These studies did not ask the respondents if they were practicing or how often they did practice if they were active in the laity.

According to a poll conducted in 2001 for French Catholic magazine ''[[La Croix (newspaper)|La Croix]]'', 69% of respondents were Roman Catholic, 22% agnostic or [[atheist]], 2% Protestant (Calvinist, Lutheran, Anglican and Evangelical), and 7% belonged to other religions.<ref name="CSA2001">{{cite web|title=Catholicisme et protestantisme en France: Analyses sociologiques et données de l'Institut CSA pour La Croix|publisher=Institut CSA & La Croix|url=http://www.csa-fr.com/dataset/data2001/catholiques.pdf|date=24 December 2001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010020308/http://www.csa-fr.com/dataset/data2001/catholiques.pdf|archive-date=10 October 2009}}</ref>

According to a 2015 estimate of [[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]] the numbers are: Christian (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic) 63–66%, Muslim 7–9%, Jewish 0.5–0.75%, Buddhist 0.5–0.75%, other 0.5–1.0%, none 23–28%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/france/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=Cia.gov|access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref>