Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Our annual report includes a five-year look at the relationship between religion-related government restrictions and social hostilities in 198 countries and territories.
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Social hostilities toward religion declined in 2013, while government restrictions on religious beliefs and practices remained level. Harassment of Jews, however, reached a seven-year high.
Explore the levels of social hostilities and government restrictions on religion in the world’s 25 most populous counties since 2007.
Next weekend, Pope Francis will make his first visit to the home of Asia’s largest Catholic population, the Philippines. The pontiff, who also will be making a stop in Sri Lanka, is very popular in the Philippines and should expect an enthusiastic welcome during his five-day visit. The Philippines’ Catholic majority has its origins in […]
Of the 64 countries in this category, about half have Christian symbols (48%) and about a third include Islamic religious symbols (33%).
Though religious property damage by governments were most common in the Middle East-North Africa region, instances have occured in every region of the world.
Hate-speech laws exist in 89 countries around the world (45%). In some countries, the laws protect only certain religious or social groups, while others have broader laws, covering words or actions that insult, denigrate or intimidate a person or group based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity or other traits.
Here’s a region-by-region look at where religious harassment takes place, and to which groups.
As of 2012, at least 17 nations have police that enforce religious norms. Religion police forces are most common in the Middle East and North Africa, and are also found in the Asia-Pacific and in sub-Saharan Africa.
