The Changing Demographics of Humanism

Abstract

What do we know about the social and demographic characteristics of humanists? This chapter seeks to answer that question by offering a way to measure humanism via data from the 2014 Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study (RLS). In addition to the existence of various types of humanism, findings indicate the presence of gender imbalance in humanist circles and potential for growth in the number of humanists in the United States, as young people are overrepresented. However, this particular cohort also lacks racial and ethnic diversity. It is important to note that, given there is no survey specifically examining humanists, this chapter serves only as a building block for understanding the prevalence of humanism and its demographic characteristics.