Swedish election highlights decline of center-left parties across 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.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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.
Christians in Africa and Latin America tend to pray more frequently, attend religious services more regularly and consider religion more important in their lives than Christians elsewhere in the world, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. At the same time, Christians in the United States also have comparatively high levels of commitment to their faith.
Roughly seven-in-ten Russians say their government did not try to meddle in the U.S. presidential election in 2016. However, 85% say the U.S. tries to shape the internal affairs of other countries.
People in Western Europe differ in their attitudes about major political parties and on key policy issues based on their ideology and whether their views are more populist or mainstream.
Americans and Western Europeans have broadly similar views on certain social and political issues. For example, majorities of Americans and Western Europeans see immigrants as beneficial to their economies and support certain rights for gays and lesbians.
The number of people living in sub-Saharan Africa who were forced to leave their homes due to conflict reached a new high of 18.4 million in 2017, up sharply from 14.1 million in 2016 – the largest regional increase of forcibly displaced people in the world.
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