Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
On Nov. 20, a Pakistani court ordered blasphemy charges dropped against a Christian teenager who had been accused of burning pages from the Quran. A new Pew Forum analysis finds that as of 2011 nearly half the countries and territories in the world have laws against blasphemy, apostasy or defamation.
Technology use and gadget ownership The changing reading habits chronicled in our recent reports are intrinsically tied to the new formats and devices on which people read. In our late 2011 national survey, we found that younger Americans have high levels of ownership of mobile devices like cell phones and laptops, especially compared with adults ages 65 […]
Across the U.S., religious courts operate on a routine, everyday basis. How do some of the country’s major Christian traditions and other religions – including Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism – decide internal matters and apply their religious laws?
Scholars of religion in the United States have been using the term “nones” since the 1960s, despite some qualms about its connotations. The term refers to people who answer a survey question about their religion by saying they have no religion, no particular religion, no religious preference, or the like. As sociologist Glenn Vernon of […]
The AP and NWP teachers taking part in this survey are notably more connected to technology than the general adult population. More than half describe themselves as very confident when it comes to learning how to use new technologies, and this confidence is reflected in the gadgets they own. These teachers are twice as likely […]
The public’s news interests were very much focused on domestic developments this year, with the election outcome, last week’s horrific school shooting and Hurricane Sandy leading the list of the top stories of 2012. With the exception of the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya in September, which became a bitterly debated campaign issue, […]
The internet has already had a major impact on how people find and access information, and now the rising popularity of e-books is helping transform Americans’ reading habits. In this changing landscape, public libraries are trying to adjust their services to these new realities while still serving the needs of patrons who rely on more traditional resources.