The subproject “Non-religion in Spain: exploring irreligion, spirituality and religious transformations”, developed at the University of Salamanca and funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, examines the growth of non-religious affiliation and its implications within the current context of social change. In a setting where 42% of the population does not identify with any religious denomination and 51% declare having no religious beliefs according to the 2025 Barometer, the project seeks to understand how the identities and practices of non-religious people are shaped today and the role they play in transforming the Spanish religious landscape.
Sociological analysis
Understanding change
The research team is developing this coordinated subproject within the framework of the ReChange project, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Their work focuses on the sociological study of non-religion and the transformations taking place within the religious landscape in Spain.
Key aspects of non-religion and its relationship with social change in Spain.
For more information about the project:
Exploring Irreligion, Spirituality and Religious Transformation
According to the 2025 Barometer on Religion and Beliefs in Spain, 42% of the population does not identify with any religious denomination and 51% declare having no religious beliefs. These figures reflect a significant transformation of the religious landscape in Spain.
Not necessarily. The same Barometer shows that combinations exist between non-institutional affiliation and certain beliefs or forms of spirituality. This indicates that non-religion is not homogeneous and requires analysis beyond formal affiliation alone.
Non-religion includes atheism, agnosticism and religious indifference, as well as non-affiliation with institutional religious denominations. The project examines these positions as part of the current transformations within the religious field and broader processes of social change in Spain.
Official data show that an increasing number of people in Spain coexist with different beliefs, as well as with no beliefs at all. The infographic Religious and Belief Diversity, Society and the State produced by the Observatory on Religious Pluralism in Spain highlights that this diversity is already part of social reality and has implications for coexistence in areas such as education, employment and public spaces.
The growth of non-affiliation and diversity of beliefs not only transforms religious statistics, but also social practices, values and perceptions. Sociological analysis makes it possible to understand these dynamics within the context of ongoing social change and to provide evidence for public debate.
Mikolaj Stanek is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Communication at the University of Salamanca. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid. Over the course of his career, he has worked at the Complutense University of Madrid, the Spanish National Research Council, and the University of Coimbra. He has served as an external expert for the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Migration Network (EMN). His research interests are broad and include religious change from a population perspective, population health, and migration processes.
Zakaria Sajir is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Communication at the University of Salamanca and a member of the Research Group “Labour Market, Migration and Health” (M2S). He is also affiliated with the University Institute for the Sciences of Religions (IUCR) and the Analysis Group on Islam and Arab-Islamic Cultures in Transnational Contexts (GRAIS) at the Complutense University of Madrid. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Leicester and previously held a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography (CSIC) in Madrid. Since 2025 he has served on the Executive Board of Research Committee 16 (Sociology of Religion) of the Spanish Federation of Sociology (FES), where he is Secretary. His research focuses on migration, labour exploitation, structural discrimination and the governance of religious and ethnic diversity in Europe.
Chiara Dello Iacono is a postdoctoral researcher in Social Sciences at the University of Salamanca. She holds a diploma in Social Work and a master's degree in Public Services and Social Policies from the University of Molise (Italy). She completed her doctoral thesis within the project "Demographic convergences and divergences between natives and immigrants in Spain Demodata," funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. She has carried out research stays at the Department of Public Health at Stockholm University (Sweden) and with the "Interface Demography" research group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).
Alba Teresa González Esteban is a doctoral student in Social Sciences at the University of Salamanca. She holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Salamanca (2019-2023). She has completed a Master's Degree in Applied Sociology: Social Problems at the Complutense University of Madrid (2023-2025) and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Social and Educational Intervention with Children and Adolescents at the University of Salamanca (2025-2026).
Cristina Rodríguez Reche is a social anthropologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, UPF. She is a member of the INMIX-UAB research group (2021SGR-181, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), where she studies migration, racialization, mixedness, social cohesion, and everyday experiences of discrimination. Her work combines ethnographic and critical approaches to examine how race, belonging, and coexistence are negotiated in local contexts. She has published in journals such as Migraciones, Social Compass, Sociology Compass, and Ethnicities, and collaborates with international networks focused on diversity and social justice, including RACED SC (IMISCOE) and EUARE.
Rafael Ruiz Andrés is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid and holds a PhD in Religious Studies (2019). His research focuses on the sociology of religion, with particular attention to secularization, non-religion, and religious pluralism. He is the author of La secularización en España (Cátedra, 2022) and co-editor, with Zakaria Sajir, of Religious Diversity in Post-Secular Societies (Springer, 2025). He has participated in the Europaeum Scholarship Programme and undertaken research stays at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and the Social Research Institute at University College London. He is also a visiting professor at Sapienza Università di Roma.
Carmen is a postdoctoral researcher in the psychology of religion at the University of Navarra, currently in her second postdoctoral appointment. Her first postdoc was part of a Templeton Foundation-funded project on the psychological foundations of divine forgiveness. She holds a BA in Philosophy, two MAs (Education; Cultural and Religious Studies), and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Granada on cultural and religious conceptions of time. She has held research stays at UCSB (Fulbright), Boston University, Harvard, and other institutions. Her current work focuses on forgiveness, well-being, lived religious experience, and fostering open, transparent, and reproducible scientific practices.
Miguel Requena (PhD, Complutense University of Madrid) is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social Structure at UNED (National University of Distance Education, Madrid, Spain) and a member of the Population and Society Research Group. He has been a member of the Technical Corps of the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Advanced Social Studies–Spanish National Research Council (IESA-CSIC), a Senior Associate Member at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and a Visiting Professor at Hamilton College, Princeton University, and Stanford University. His research interests include demography, family, social structure, and social change.
Ali El Yemlahy Chouati es doctorando en Sociología en la Universidad de Salamanca, especializado en Sociología de la Religión, Migraciones e Islam. Su perfil es multidisciplinar, integrando sociología, derecho, economía, teología, filosofía y psicología. Es máster en Derecho (UC3M) y en Gestión Administrativa (UAX), economista colegiado (CEMAD) y graduado en Comercio (UCM). Actualmente cursa un máster en Filosofía de la Religión (LFU), Licenciatura en estudios islámicos en (Al-Azhar) y Grado en Psicología en la UOC. Participa en seminarios sobre islam en Europa y combina investigación y divulgación. Forma parte del GRAIS (Grupo de Análisis sobre Islam y Culturas Arabo-islámicas en Contextos Transnacionales). Sus intereses incluyen ateísmo, religión comparada, esoterismo, secularismo e historia.
I research and photograph our relationship with death, with a particular interest in the intersection between finitude and religion. I hold a double degree in Political Science and Sociology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, as well as a master’s degree in Anthropology and Ethnography from the University of Barcelona. I am affiliated with ISOR-UAB (Investigations in the Sociology of Religion) and collaborate with GREMHER-UB (Research Group on Mysticism and Religious Heterodoxies). My doctoral thesis is carried out under a research contract linked to the R&D&I project RECHANGE (Non-religion in Spain: Exploring irreligion, spirituality, and religious transformations).
