Key findings about COVID-19 restrictions that affected religious groups around the world in 2020
Our study analyzes 198 countries and territories and is based on policies and events in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Our study analyzes 198 countries and territories and is based on policies and events in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available.
Nearly a quarter of countries used force to prevent religious gatherings during the pandemic; other government restrictions and social hostilities related to religion remained fairly stable.
About a quarter of U.S. adults regularly watch religious services online or on TV, and most of them are highly satisfied with the experience. About two-in-ten Americans (21%) use apps or websites to help with reading scripture.
During the pandemic, a stable share of U.S. adults have been participating in religious services in some way – either virtually or in person – but in-person attendance is slightly lower than it was before COVID-19. Among Americans surveyed across several years, the vast majority described their attendance habits in roughly the same way in both 2019 and 2022.
Incidents against Jewish people in 2020 ranged from verbal and physical assaults to vandalism of cemeteries and scapegoating for the pandemic.
Most U.S. adults do not believe that requests for religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine are sincere.
Churches and other houses of worship increasingly are holding services the way they did before the COVID-19 outbreak began.
82% of members of the historically Black Protestant tradition who attend church regularly have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The most common kinds of government restrictions on religion in 2021 included harassment of religious groups and interference in worship.
Between 2010 and 2018, the share of Chinese adults who identify with Christianity remained stable at about 2%.
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