The YouGov Death Study finds that a third of Britons (33%) believe in an afterlife, but four in ten (42%) don’t.
Women (38%) are more likely than men (26%) to believe in life after death.
Among men, the belief in the afterlife falls with age – from 39% among 16-24-year-olds, to just 20% for men in their 60s or older. For women the figure remains about constant.
Among religious Britons who actively practice their faith, 69% say they believe in the afterlife, but 11% do not. Among people who say they are not religious, 17% say they believe in the afterlife, compared to 59% who don’t.
Among the third of Britons who said they believe in the afterlife, the greatest proportion (43%) think what happens is that the soul goes to heaven or a similar place where it lives on. One in six (16%) believe in reincarnation and 6% believe in becoming a spirit. A further 22% say they believe there is something after death but are not sure what.
Among practicing religious Britons who believe in the afterlife, seven in ten (71%) say that the soul continues to live on, compared to a third (34%) of those who don’t practice their religion but believe in the afterlife, and 11% of afterlife-believers who are not affiliated with any religion.
Three in ten Britons who don’t belong to a particular religion and think there is an afterlife believe in reincarnation (30%), and another 31% believe there is something but are not sure what.
When asked directly whether they believe in the existence of heaven or hell, three in ten Britons (30%) believe that heaven exists, with 18% saying they think hell exists too. Over half of the population (54%) don’t believe in either.
Among men, six in ten (60%) don’t believe in heaven or in hell, compared to 48% of women.
The results show that the older men are the more likely they are to say they believe in neither heaven nor in hell – ranging from 49% among 16-24-year-olds, to 64% among men 60 or older.
Among Britons who practice their religion, about half (47%) believe in both heaven and hell, compared to 10% of non-religious Britons. One in four (26%) practicing religious Brits believe only in heaven and one in eight (13%) don’t believe in either.
When it comes to those who are not religious, eight in ten (78%) believe that neither heaven nor hell exist.
The YouGov Death Study also shows that one in five Britons (19%) believe that it is possible to contact the dead. This belief is more widespread among women (25%) than men (13%).
Just under a quarter of Britons who belong to a particular religion whether they practice or not (23-24%) say they believe it is possible to contact the dead. This view is held by 16% of those who don’t belong to any religion.
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