Restrictions on Religion

For more than a decade, Pew Research Center has been tracking global patterns in restrictions on religion – both those imposed by governments and hostilities committed by individuals and social groups.

Government restrictions in 2018 were at their highest level since 2007, when Pew Research Center began tracking these trends.

Among the 25 most populous countries, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia had the highest levels of overall restrictions on religion in 2018, while Japan, South Africa, Italy, Brazil and the United States had the fewest restrictions.

In 2018, the global median level of government restrictions on religion – that is, laws, policies and actions by officials that impinge on religious beliefs and practices – continued to climb, reaching an all-time high since Pew Research Center began tracking these trends in 2007.

Republicans and Democrats' opinions differ on many aspects of the outbreak, including views about religious practices during the pandemic.

Black and Hispanic worshippers are less likely than their white counterparts to say they have gone to a house of worship recently.

24% of U.S. adults overall say their faith has become stronger because of the coronavirus pandemic; just 2% say their faith has become weaker.

Only 10 states are preventing in-person religious gatherings in any form, according to our analysis of recent state-level regulations.

The religiously unaffiliated were harassed by governments, private groups or both in 23 countries in 2017, up from 14 the previous year.

In addition to government actions, there also was a dramatic increase in Europe in some measures of social hostility to religion.