Southerners tend to be more religious than other U.S. adults – but less religious than they used to be
People who live in the American South continue to be more religious, on average, than residents of the Midwest, Northeast and West.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
People who live in the American South continue to be more religious, on average, than residents of the Midwest, Northeast and West.
Many religious “nones,” which include atheists and agnostics, hold religious and spiritual beliefs in the 22 countries studied. Read about belief in spirits and God, as well as differences by gender.
Buddhism is the only major religion that declined in number globally between 2010 and 2020, mostly due to religious disaffiliation in East Asia and to low birth rates.
In many places surveyed, 20% or more of all adults have left their childhood religious group. Christianity and Buddhism have had especially large losses.
Read about how adults’ average number of kids vary by religious group, and how many parents pray with their kids, opt for a religious education and more. Religious Landscape Study by Pew Research Center.
Read how Pew Research Center revised our estimates to reflect methodological advances, incorporate newly available data, and allow comparison across measures in this report.
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, John Templeton Foundation (grant 63095) and Templeton Religion Trust (grant 34765). This publication does […]
By some measures, the world’s most religious countries are mostly in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Explore how adults in the U.S. and 35 other countries compare religiously and spiritually when it comes to affiliation, prayer, afterlife beliefs and more.
Across religious groups, majorities see America’s openness to others as essential to national identity. But views on rising immigration are more mixed. Religious Landscape Study by Pew Research Center.
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