WORLD: Latest Trends in Religious Restrictions

Source: INContext, July 2015

In February 2015, the Pew Research Center released the sixth in a series of annual reports analyzing the extent to which governments and societies around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices. Looking at the overall level of restrictions—whether resulting from government policies or from hostile acts by private individuals, organizations, and social groups—the study finds that:

  1. Restrictions on religion were high or very high in 39% of the 198 countries and territories monitored.
  1. Nearly 5.5 billion people (77% of the world’s population) live in nations where religious restrictions of some kind (related to either government or social groups) are either high or very high. This figure has increased from 76% in 2012 and 68% as of 2007.
  1. Among the world’s 25 most populous countries, the highest overall levels of restrictions were found in China, India, Burma (Myanmar), Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Russia, where both the government and society at large impose numerous limits on religious beliefs and practices.
  1. Among these populous countries, China had the highest level of government restrictions in 2013 [the most recent year for which data was available].
  1. India had the highest level of social hostilities involving religion.

» Read the rest of the report.

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