Pew Research’s fourth major report on global restrictions on religion finds that the share of countries with high or very high restrictions on religion rose from 37% in 2010 to 40% in 2011. The Middle East and North Africa continued to have the highest levels of restrictions in the year when much of the Arab Spring uprisings occurred, with social hostilities involving religion increasing markedly and government restrictions remaining high.
Economy Categorization: To categorize the 39 countries surveyed into three categories – advanced economies, emerging markets and developing economies – we started with the World Bank classification of countries by income. The World Bank classifies countries into high income, upper middle income, lower middle income and low income groups. In general, we categorized countries that […]
Getting the American public’s attention, let alone commitment to deal with international issues is as challenging as it has ever been in the modern era. The depth and duration of the public’s disengagement these days goes well beyond the periodic spikes in isolationist sentiment that have been observed over the past 50 years.
Government must bridge gap between personal, national expectations
Overview Publics around the world are decidedly unhappy about their nations’ economies. Most are displeased with current economic conditions and concerned about rising economic inequality; few are optimistic about the coming year. However, at the same time, most global publics say their personal finances are in better shape than their national economies, according to a […]
Overview By a 45% to 31% margin, more Americans favor than oppose the U.S. and its allies taking military action against Syria, if it is confirmed that Syria used chemical weapons against anti-government groups. Public interest in the Syrian conflict remains low, and nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) have no opinion about the use […]
