Nearly six in ten Scots identify as being non-religious, according to a new study.

A poll, carried out by Survation for the Humanist Society, details the decline in religious belief in Scotland.

The survey of more than 1000 Scottish adults found most people, 59%, identified as non-religious.

At 62%, women were more likely to be non-religious than men.

Most people (51%) do not believe in life after death, while 34% believed in an afterlife.

When asked if they believed in angels, 29% said they did, 60% said they did not believe and 11% did not know.

Having faith in a forthcoming "judgement day" was the least popular aspect of belief which the researchers asked about, with just 18% of Scots affirming this.

A quarter of Scots believe in demons and evil spirits, while 22% have faith in divine miracles from God.

Most people never pray (53%), while 60% reported they never attended church outside of weddings.

The north east of Scotland had the most non-religious people at 66%.

The full report is due to be published on Tuesday but STV News was given access to its findings.

Humanist Society Scotland chief executive Gordon MacRae said: "These figures show how the majority of Scotland's population do not identify with a religion nor believe in key aspects of spiritual belief.

"While it is important to recognise that faith plays an important part in a minority of people's lives, the majority do not.

"By all measurements Scotland is no longer a faith based country - and has not been for some time."

He continued: "This is important when it comes to the provision of public services for example, providers must ensure they recognise and meet the needs of everyone - religious or not.

"Too often we see non-religious people's requests for equality being dismissed as 'militant' or 'anti-religious'.

"Our schools, hospitals, local authorities and others all need to seriously consider how they don't just take a lazy assumption of faith when that fails the majority."

Trainee episcopal minister Lee Johnston, 26, spoke to STV News about the results of the survey.

He said friends his age were often surprised when they found out about his profession.

The poll found 69% of those aged between 18 to 24 said they were non-religious.

He said: "In one sense it's a bit intimidating, going in to the ministry at a time where church attendance is at an all-time low.

"Going in to it as someone who's 26, you do have a lot of time to see if you can do something to make a difference.

"And do something different to what's been done before so you can hopefully see an improvement in attendance levels."