Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Survey Report The public has a more positive than negative view of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his address to a joint session of Congress next week. About four-in-ten (38%) have a favorable opinion of the Israeli leader, compared with 27% who hold an unfavorable view. Roughly a third (35%) express no opinion […]
Latin America is home to more than 425 million Catholics – nearly 40% of the world’s total Catholic population – and the Roman Catholic Church now has a Latin American pope for the first time in its history. Yet identification with Catholicism has declined throughout the region, according to a major new Pew Research Center […]
More than nine-in-ten members of the newly elected 114th Congress are Christian — a significantly higher share than is seen in the general population. However, many other major religious groups are represented in the body, including Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and the unaffiliated.
A majority of Americans favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder, but support is at a 40-year low.
Latin Americans have widely embraced Pope Francis – the first head of the Catholic Church elected from the New World. More than half of respondents in each of the countries surveyed express a favorable opinion of the new pontiff, including nine-in-ten adults in his native Argentina; 67% of U.S. Hispanics also view Francis favorably. Pope […]
Countries With the Most Extensive Government Restrictions on Religion Most countries in the world have some form of government restrictions on religion, but each year a few countries stand out as having particularly extensive restrictions. In 2013, 18 countries had a “very high” level of government restrictions, down from 24 countries in 2012. Most of […]
Many Christians in Latin America identify with Pentecostalism and related movements. Pentecostals take their name from the biblical feast of Pentecost (originally the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which took place 50 days after Passover), when the apostles and other early followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit and suddenly “began to speak in […]
Pope Francis, leader of the world’s nearly 1.1 billion Catholics, enjoys broad support across much of the world: a median of 60% across 43 nations have a favorable view of him. Only 11% see the pope unfavorably, and 28% give no rating.