How true / false is the claim that economically developed countries are atheistic?

[ATraveller]

85 percent of Swedes are atheists, 80 percent of Danes, 72 percent of Norwegians, 65 percent of Japanese , 60 percent of Finns are atheists .

‘Atheist’ isn’t correct. Non-religious would be. And that would include atheists, agnostics, ‘spiritual but not religious’ and those indifferent to religion.
I know most Japanese do not consider themselves atheists.

 

[ATraveller]

Correlation is not necessarily causation.
But if there is causation, many believe, in general terms, those who are impoverished find hope in religion while those who are richer don’t need comfort in religion anymore. I believe there is some of that going on but there’s more. Others will point out the Nordic countries you’ve cited have had a history of secularization and theological liberalisation within their state churches and a reluctance to catechize post-WWII. WWI/The Great War also played a role in causing many to lose trust in church leaders.
Also, I find it a bit problematic that we look at these things on nationwide scales because they don’t look at other factors involved.

 

[Dan123]

‘Atheist’ isn’t correct. Non-religious would be. And that would include atheists, agnostics, ‘spiritual but not religious’ and those indifferent to religion.

I know most Japanese do not consider themselves atheists.

There are different uses of the word. Sometimes it’s referred to as hard vs soft atheism, I prefer a-theism vs athe-ism. The former meaning ‘without theism’, meaning the lack of a belief in a god or gods, the latter being the belief, the ‘ism’, that the universe is ‘without god’. Both are valid uses but I’ve found in conversation most self-identifying atheists, at least that I’ve discussed this with would be the former. It’s distinct from agnosticism which is a claim about knowledge not belief.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Well-off people are more likely to ignore God or think they don’t need him because they have so many distractions and aren’t in desperate need of help, or if they are they can just pay somebody to help them.

Jesus himself pointed out that it was harder for rich people to get to heaven.

 

[MonteRCMS]

My priest mentioned once in a homily that most of us in economically developed countries do not grow our own food. Only a small percentage of the workforce is in agriculture. We forget where our food comes from, and the source of many of our goods, and how much we really rely on God’s providence to live.

Also, when we are more economically well off, it’s easier to think that we can be happy without God. But that’s not the case.

Not really true.

The USA exports food.

Singapore imports food.

 

[CoeurRempli]

Not really true.

The USA exports food.

Singapore imports food.

I didn’t say that more developed countries did not export any food. But in more developed countries such as the US most people work in the service industry; only a small percentage work in agriculture. As a country develops less people are needed in agriculture.
Also Singapore is quite developed when considering many factors. High literacy rate and a higher life expectancy than Americans.