Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
A Pew Research Center analysis of income data from 11 Western European countries finds considerable differences in the fortunes of the middle classes in those countries. See where you fall on your country’s income ladder.
The fortunes of the middle classes across Western Europe are moving in different directions. Some nations are experiencing both growing incomes and expanding middle classes, while other nations are witness to stagnant or declining incomes and shrinking middle classes, a new Pew Research Center analysis of 11 Western European countries has found. But in a few other countries studied, the middle-class shares are decreasing even as incomes overall are rising.
From 1991 to 2010, the middle class expands in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but, as in the United States, shrinks in Germany, Italy and Spain
Ahead of the first round of the French presidential election, here are five charts outlining the support for the country’s populist, far-right National Front.
Nearly four-in-ten Democrats (39%) name Russia as the country that represents the greatest danger to the United States – the highest percentage expressing this view in nearly three decades.
Many in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia and Japan do not report regularly visiting social media sites. But majorities in all of the 14 countries surveyed say they at least use the internet.
Europe in 2015 saw a rise in social hostilities involving religion, particularly against the continent’s Muslims.
Thirty-eight European governments harassed religious groups in limited or widespread ways in 2015, while 24 used some type of force against religious groups.
Though Christians make up nearly a third of Earth’s 7.3 billion people, the number of Christians in Europe is in decline.
In 2016, European Union countries, Norway and Switzerland received more than 1.2 million asylum applications, below the record 1.3 million applications received in 2015.
