South Korea Church Records

The percentage of Christians in South Korea is about 25 percent of the population. However, South Korea has by far the highest percentage of Christians of any Asian nation. Only about 4 percent of the overall Asian population is Christian, with South Korea making up a substantial portion of that 4 percent. Also, South Korea has some of the largest Christian churches in the world, with some church memberships approximating 500,000.

According to a recent stucy, South Korea is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world, with about 23 percent of its population Buddhist, 19 percent Protestant, 7 percent Catholic, 49 percent no religion, and a variety of other religions each representing less than 1 percent of the population.

Christianity in Korea has a strong materialistic and nationalistic appeal, based on the perspectives that Christians are likely to prosper and that the growth of Christianity is likely to win God’s favor for South Korea. Protestant Christianity in South Korea appears to have a particularly strong alliance with the government, being granted a variety of financial favors by the government and, in return, being unequivocally loyal to the government. The growth rate of Christianity in Korea since the early 1960s has been greater than in any other country. However, 49 percent of South Koreans report no formal religion and only 48 percent report belief in God.