The percentage of Americans who don't identify with a religion is rising, while the share of Christians in the nation is dropping, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Seventy-one percent of Americans are Christian, an almost 8-percentage-point drop since 2007. Protestants saw the largest drop of 5 percentage points over that span, while the share of Catholics dropped 3 percentage points.

ADVERTISEMENT

That's compared to a 7-percentage-point rise in those who don't identify with religion. Twenty-three percent of Americans consider themselves “unaffiliated.”

Non-Christian faiths have seen a slight rise over the seven-year span to 6 percent, a 1-percentage-point gain.

Marriage between those of different religions is also increasing over a much larger time frame. Nearly 39 percent of those who got married since 2010 are in a “religiously mixed marriage.” Just 19 percent of married spouses who were married before 1960 said the same.

The survey also shows that American Christians are getting more diverse, as nonwhites make up a larger percentage of the religion when compared to 2007. And the group that does not identify with a religion is getting younger, with a median age at 36.

The median age of American Protestant adults is 52, while the median age for American Catholic adults is 49.