Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Survey Report Publics around the world are concerned about the effect of global climate change and international financial instability, with majorities in many of the nations surveyed saying these are major threats to their countries. But Islamic extremism is also a serious concern, particularly in the United States, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. In contrast, relatively […]
Overview As Iranians prepare to elect a new president, the country’s international image is largely negative. Majorities in most of 39 countries surveyed have an unfavorable opinion of Iran, and most say Tehran does not respect the personal freedoms of its people. Meanwhile, any nuclear ambitions harbored by the Iranian government continue to draw strong […]
Overview For updated views on this question from 2019, see here. As the United States and other countries grapple with the issue of same-sex marriage, a new Pew Research Center survey finds huge variance by region on the broader question of whether homosexuality should be accepted or rejected by society. The survey of publics in […]
During the Arab Spring, many world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, expressed hope that “this season of change” would lead to greater freedoms for the people of the Middle East and North Africa, including fewer restrictions on religion.1 But a new study by the Pew Research Center finds that hopes for greater religious freedom […]
Overview Two years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian public mood is increasingly negative. Month after month of political uncertainty, a weak economy and often violent street protests have taken their toll, and today a majority of Egyptians are dissatisfied with the way their new democracy is working. Only 30% of Egyptians think […]
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.
As Barack Obama arrives in the Middle East this week, the sympathies of the American public remain firmly with Israel in its dispute with the Palestinians.
A Pew Research Center report looks at how the religious makeup of legal immigrants to the U.S. has changed over the past 20 years. While Christians continue to make up a majority of new legal permanent residents, a growing share belong to other faiths
Survey Report As concern mounts about the Syrian government’s possible use of chemical weapons against its own people, publics in the Middle East – especially the Lebanese – are extremely worried about violence spreading to neighboring countries. Nonetheless, a new survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted before news emerged of alleged use of chemical […]