Europeans are least more likely to say that religion could be very essential of their lives, in comparison with other parts of the world, and only 42 percent of Americans claim that religion is personally crucial to them.
Senior Researcher Johnathan Evans revealed the findings for Pew Research Center on Aug. 9, following the released results of an impressively long decade-and-a-half survey.
Evans said that just 10 percent or less of adults surveyed in some European countries stated the priority of spiritual belief, namely Estonia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Latvia and Finland.
On a more positive note, he highlighted that other parts of the world did respond more affirmingly on the importance of faith, specifically inside sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
“People in sub-Saharan Africa are typically among the many most definitely to say that religion could be very essential of their lives,” wrote Evans, “At least 90% of adults say this in Senegal, Mali, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda and Zambia.”
For the query of whether a respondent prayed day by day — Latin Americans raised the bar with 82 percent of adults in Guatemala and Paraguay, and 78 percent in Costa Rica and Honduras.
The picture was less clear in South and Southeast Asia, in comparison with the polarized views in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
“Adults in some places on this region are among the many most definitely worldwide to position a terrific deal of importance on religion,” added Evans.
“Consider Indonesia, for instance, where nearly all adults say religion could be very essential of their lives. But far smaller shares in Singapore (36%) and Vietnam (26%) give this answer.”
Pew Research Center’s surveys that included the questions on religion were carried out inside 102 countries. The surveys from 2008 until last 12 months (2023) asked respondents: “How essential is religion in your life?” and “How often do you pray?”
“The places which are most religious by these two measures are likely to be in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East-North Africa region,” confirmed Evans. “The places which are least religious are likely to be in Europe and East Asia.”
Although the questions seemed easy enough, the additional layers of religiosity in some countries meant a unique approach was needed.
Evans said the questions worked well in those places where Abrahamic religions dominated — Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is “because prayer and formal religious organizations are central to those traditions.”
“In other parts of the world, we want to ask additional inquiries to capture key facets of spiritual or spiritual observance,” noted Evans.
An example of this complexity is the Pew Research Center’s 2023 survey that was conducted in East Asian societies and nearby Vietnam. Regional experts were consulted before the survey to create pertinent questions tailormade to the person spiritual facets of those countries.
“We also conducted qualitative research in Japan and Taiwan to make sure we were taking the best approach,” wrote Evans.
“The survey found that while few East Asians consider religion very essential of their lives or pray day by day, many individuals across the region hold religious or spiritual beliefs and interact in traditional rituals. For example, many East Asians take part in rituals to honor their ancestors.”
