Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Our annual report includes a five-year look at the relationship between religion-related government restrictions and social hostilities in 198 countries and territories.
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In 2020, properties in 102 of the 198 countries and territories in the study were targeted in incidents tied to religion.
Incidents against Jewish people in 2020 ranged from verbal and physical assaults to vandalism of cemeteries and scapegoating for the pandemic.
Religiously unaffiliated people were harassed by governments, private groups or both in 27 countries in 2020.
Our study analyzes 198 countries and territories and is based on policies and events in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available.
Nearly a quarter of countries used force to prevent religious gatherings during the pandemic; other government restrictions and social hostilities related to religion remained fairly stable.
Most U.S. adults do not believe that requests for religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine are sincere.
As democratic nations have wrestled with economic, social and geopolitical upheaval in recent years, the future of liberal democracy has come into question. Our international surveys reveal key insights into how citizens think about democratic governance.
Social hostilities around the world involving religion declined in 2019 to the lowest level in five years.
Social hostilities involving religion, including violence and harassment against religious groups by private individuals and groups, declined in 2019, according to Pew Research Center’s 12th annual study of global restrictions on religion, which examines 198 countries and territories.
