<P> In 2015, Statistics Netherlands, the Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands, found that 50.1% of the total population declared to be Non-religious . Christians comprised the 43.8% of the total population and were divided in Catholics with 23.7%, Protestants with a membership in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands with 15.5% and other Christians (including Protestants without a membership in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands) with 4.6% . Islam comprised the 4.9% of the total population and other religions (like Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism) comprised the remaining 1.1% . </P> <P> According to an independent in - depth interviewing by Radboud University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2006, 34% of the Dutch population identified as a Christian, decreasing till in 2015 almost 25% of the population adhered to one of the Christian faiths (11.7% Roman Catholic, 8.6% PKN, 4.2% other small Christian denominations), 5 percent is Muslim and 2 percent adheres to Hinduism or Buddhism, approximately 67.8% of the population in 2015 has no religious affiliation, up from 61% in 2006, 53% in 1996, 43% 1979 and 33% in 1966 . The Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (Social and Cultural Planning Agency, SCP) expects the number of non-affiliated Dutch to be at 72% in 2020 . </P> <P> The Constitution of the Netherlands guarantees freedom of education, which means that all schools that adhere to general quality criteria receive the same government funding . This includes schools based on religious principles by religious groups (especially Roman Catholic and various Protestant). Three political parties in the Dutch parliament, (CDA, and two small parties, ChristianUnion and SGP) are based upon the Christian belief . Several Christian religious holidays are national holidays (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and the Ascension of Jesus). In the late 19th century atheism began to rise as secularism, liberalism and socialism grew . By 1960, Protestantism shrunk demographically to equal Roman Catholicism, and going onwards, both Christian branches began to decline . There is one major exception: Islam which grew considerably as the result of immigration . Since the year 2000 there has been raised awareness of religion, mainly due to Muslim extremism . </P> <P> The Dutch royal family has been traditionally associated with Calvinism, specifically the 1795 disestablished and now non-existent Dutch Reformed Church . The Dutch Reformed Church has been the only major Protestant church in the Netherlands from the Protestant Reformation up until the 19th century . It encompassed the vast majority of Protestants in the Reformed tradition until a series of splits in 1834 and in 1886 diversified Dutch Calvinism . In 2013, a Roman Catholic became Queen consort . </P>

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