Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation, is an effort by Pew Research Center to understand religious change and its impact on societies around the world. It includes three main lines of research: a series of international surveys on religion in various regions; an ongoing demographic study of religion around the world; and an annual coding project that examines restrictions on religion in 198 countries and territories.
Nearly seven-in-ten Americans identify with a religion – higher than the shares seen in several other wealthy countries. Explore our interactive feature to see how the U.S. compares with more than 30 countries on questions about spirituality and religion.
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Buddhists across the region also say that someone cannot be truly Buddhist if they do not respect deities or spirits.
Among the places surveyed, people in Japan (85%) and Vietnam (84%) are most likely to say they have a family gravesite.
Many people in the region – including the religiously unaffiliated – hold religious or spiritual beliefs and engage in traditional rituals.
Few are religiously affiliated, but many in the region hold religious or spiritual beliefs and engage in traditional rituals.
The most common kinds of government restrictions on religion in 2021 included harassment of religious groups and interference in worship.
In 2021, government restrictions on religion – laws, policies and actions by state officials that limit religious beliefs and practices – reached a new peak globally. Harassment of religious groups and interference in worship were two of the most common forms of government restrictions worldwide that year.
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.
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.
The Global Religious Futures (GRF) project is jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The John Templeton Foundation. Here are some big-picture findings from the GRF, together with context from other Pew Research Center studies.
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.
