2. Beliefs about the afterlife
In nearly every place surveyed, half or more say life after death is likely. Fewer believe in reincarnation or that ancestral spirits can affect their lives.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
In nearly every place surveyed, half or more say life after death is likely. Fewer believe in reincarnation or that ancestral spirits can affect their lives.
Read about some of the ways focus group participants with ties to different faith traditions explain the complex relationship of religion and culture in their lives.
The survey asked “nones” why they are nonreligious, offering a list of six possible reasons and asking respondents to say whether each is an extremely, very, somewhat, not too, or not at all important reason why they are nonreligious. Respondents could choose multiple reasons, and many did. The reason “nones” give most often for not […]
Government restrictions on religion, by region The global median score on the Government Restrictions Index (GRI) rose from 2.8 in 2020 to 3.0 in 2021, the highest it’s been since Pew Research Center created the index in 2007. Both Europe and the Americas saw increases in their regional GRI scores, though their median scores remained […]
This report was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. Funding for the Global Religious Futures project comes from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation (grant 62287). This report is a collaborative effort […]
On average, people in 18 countries say the ideal age to get married is around 26 years old. In general, people in the countries polled do marry in their 20s.
Not all ‘nones’ are nonbelievers. Far from it. While the “nones” include many nonbelievers, 70% of “nones” say they believe in God or another higher power, and 63% say they believe in spiritual forces beyond the natural world. Overall, 19% of religious “nones” are strict nonbelievers who don’t believe in God or any higher power, […]
Most Americans support the separation of church and state. Still, half think the Bible should have at least some influence in US laws.
Government restrictions on religion All 198 countries and territories in our study had at least some level of government restrictions or regulations related to religious activity reported in 2021. However, the severity of the restrictions and the extent to which governments enforced them varied from one place to another. The differences are reflected in each […]
Egypt, Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Nigeria had the highest levels of overall restrictions (both government restrictions and social hostilities) among the 25 most populous countries in 2021. Japan, the United States, South Africa, Italy and Brazil had the lowest levels of overall restrictions among these countries. Each year we look separately at the 25 most […]
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