London, April 13 : If a new study is anything to go by, 40 percent Britons believe in ghosts and over 50 percent in life after death.

The survey of more than 2,000 people has shown that seven out of ten people believe in the human soul and more than five out of ten believe in heaven.

ComRes, the company that conducted the research for Theos, found that one in five believes in astrology or horoscopes, one in ten in Tarot or fortune telling and nearly three in ten people believe in reincarnation.

According to the results, people are more superstitious than 60 years ago, at a time when orthodox religious belief is declining and secularism is on the rise.

"The enlightenment optimism in the ability of science and reason to explain everything ended decades ago. The extent of belief will probably surprise people, but the finding is consistent with other research we have undertaken,” Times Online quoted Paul Woolley, the director of Theos, as saying.

"The results indicate that people have a very diverse and unorthodox set of beliefs. Our research may point to a slight increase in scepticism about aspects of the supernatural over the last ten years," he added. (ANI)