Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Pope Francis begins a four-day trip this weekend to the Baltic states, the first papal visit to these countries in 25 years. While the Baltic countries have a substantial Christian population, only Lithuania and Latvia have large numbers of Catholics.
A majority of people in several European countries support taking in refugees. Yet there is widespread disapproval of how the EU has handled the refugee issue.
The paths migrants have taken across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe have changed over time. So far in 2018, the Morocco-to-Spain corridor has been the most traveled among the three major sea routes used by migrants to reach Europe.
Explore our new interactive feature to learn more about what traditional and populist party support looks like in Western Europe.
Sweden’s general election extended two trends now prominent across Western Europe: The rise of right-wing populist parties and the decline of center-left parties.
American adults – both Christian and unaffiliated – are considerably more religious than their European counterparts by a variety of measures. For instance, about two-thirds of U.S. Christians pray daily, compared with a median of just 18% of Christians across 15 European countries.
Large majorities in eight Western European countries trust the military, ranging from 84% in France to 66% in Spain. Similarly, eight-in-ten Americans have confidence in the military.
Overall, 38% of Americans have a favorable opinion of China, down slightly from 44% in 2017. Concerns about China include economic threats, cyberattacks, environmental damage and human rights.
Views of Mexico are mixed: While 39% say they feel “warmly” toward Mexico, 34% feel “coldly,” and 26% are neutral, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The public has much warmer feelings toward Canada. Two-thirds (67%) say they feel warmly toward Canada, with 52% giving it a very warm rating (76 or higher on the scale). Just 12% feel coldly toward Canada.
