5 facts about religion in South and Southeast Asia
Most people in all six South and Southeast Asian countries surveyed say they believe in God or unseen beings.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Buddhism, Islam and Religious Pluralism in South and Southeast Asia
In Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, more than 90% of Buddhists see strong links between their religion and country. In the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, nearly all Muslims say being Muslim is important to being truly part of their nation.
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Measuring Religion in China
Only one-in-ten Chinese adults formally identify with a religion, but surveys indicate that religion plays a much bigger role in China when the definition is widened to include questions on spirituality, customs and traditional beliefs.
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Americans Feel More Positive Than Negative About Jews, Mainline Protestants, Catholics
Most U.S. adults are neutral toward several religious groups, though Americans tend to rate their own religious group positively. More than a third of Americans hold unfavorable views of multiple religious groups.
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India’s Sex Ratio at Birth Begins To Normalize
India’s artificially wide ratio of baby boys to baby girls – which arose in the 1970s from the use of prenatal diagnostic technology to facilitate sex-selective abortions – now appears to be narrowing. Son bias has declined sharply among Sikhs, while Christians continue to have a natural balance of sons and daughters.
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In India, head coverings are worn by most women, including roughly six-in-ten Hindus
In recent weeks, protests in India over Muslim headscarves in schools have gained international attention.
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Key findings about the religious composition of India
Religious pluralism has long been a core value in India. A new report shows that India’s religious composition has been fairly stable since 1951.
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Religious Composition of India
All major religious groups in India have shown sharp declines in their fertility rates, limiting change in the country’s religious composition since 1951. Meanwhile, fertility differences between India’s religious groups are generally much smaller than they used to be.
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Women are becoming more involved in U.S. mosques
Women continue to be less involved than men in mosque life in the U.S., but the pattern appears to be changing.
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Eight-in-ten Indians limit meat in their diets, and four-in-ten consider themselves vegetarian
Among India’s six largest religious groups, some are much more likely than others to abstain from eating meat.
