Religiously unaffiliated people face harassment in a growing number of countries
Religiously unaffiliated people were harassed by governments, private groups or both in 27 countries in 2020.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Religiously unaffiliated people were harassed by governments, private groups or both in 27 countries in 2020.
Incidents against Jewish people in 2020 ranged from verbal and physical assaults to vandalism of cemeteries and scapegoating for the pandemic.
Social hostilities around the world involving religion declined in 2019 to the lowest level in five years.
Christians were harassed by governments or social groups in a total of 128 countries in 2015 – more countries than any other religious group.
In 2014, the median level of religious hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa reached a level four times that of the global median.
Government restrictions on religion and social hostilities related to religion decreased somewhat between 2013 and 2014, the second consecutive year of such declines.
Harassment and attacks against religious minorities continue in many countries there, and hostilities against Jews in particular have been spreading.
There was an overall decline in social hostilities to religion in 2013, though harassment of Jews worldwide reached a high. These are five key takeaways from our religious restrictions report.
Of the 64 countries in this category, about half have Christian symbols (48%) and about a third include Islamic religious symbols (33%).
Though religious property damage by governments were most common in the Middle East-North Africa region, instances have occured in every region of the world.
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