Search results for: “religion”

About three-quarters of the world’s people (more than 5 billion) live in the 25 most populous countries in the world. Examining the religious restrictions in these countries can show how government restrictions and social hostilities impact large portions of the world’s population – although not all who reside in these countries are affected equally, as […]

The analysis of 2016 sources found reports of religiously motivated harassment – whether perpetrated by governments or social groups – in the vast majority of the world’s countries (187, up from 169 in 2015). This marks the biggest number of countries where harassment was observed against religious groups since Pew Research Center began analyzing restrictions […]

Government restrictions by region In 2016, the global median level of government restrictions on religion increased slightly to 2.8 from 2.7 in 2015. The median score rose in three out of five regions (the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa region) and remained about the same in two regions (Asia-Pacific and Europe). While […]

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. This report is a collaborative effort based on […]