Women are much more likely to believe in God and in life after death than men, researchers have found.

Two-thirds of women have faith compared to fewer than half of men. Sixty per cent of women believe in the afterlife but only 35 per cent of men, The Daily Mail reports.

There was also a gender split among atheists. Men were much more likely to be definite that death is the end – 63 per cent against 36 per cent of women.

Study author Professor David Voas said: ‘Belief – or disbelief – in God and in life after death do not always go together.

‘Nearly a third of the people who believe in God do not believe in an afterlife.’

Just over half in the study said they were Christian. Most of the rest said they had no religion.

The findings support growing indications that women are more religious and Christian churches increasingly rely on them as worshippers and ministers.

The UCL Institute of Education, London, quizzed 9,000 people as part of the British Cohort Study which is following the lives of 17,000 people born in 1970.