Tag Archives: religion

Government Restrictions on Religion

Government Restrictions on Religion Around the World

The Pew Research Center released today the results of its assessment of global restrictions on religion. A team of researchers combed through multiple sources of information to record concrete reports about government policies and actions, as well as specific incidents of religious violence or intolerance by social groups. One of the outcomes of the study is the thematic map shown above, which displays the level of government restrictions on religion as of December of 2011. The level is represented by the darkness of the color. The darker the color, the higher the level of government restrictions. The map shows that the Middle East and North Africa have many countries where governments restrict religion. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran top the list of countries with very high government restrictions. China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Russia also stand out due to the policies and actions of their governments.

The World as 100 People

In this interesting infographic, created by Jack Hagley, we take a look at the world as if the total population of the world was 100 people. The information presented covers topics such as the distribution of gender, information, spoken languages, literacy, religion, age, housing, water, nutrition, and population inhabiting each continent.

 

Religious Beliefs Around the World

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Religion plays an important role in every culture around the world. This amazing visualization of world religions by the National Post, shows the origins of different religious beliefs and how they are spread around the globe. The world’s population fall into the following main belief groups: Abrahamic (Christian, Judaic, Islamic, and Baha’i faiths), Eastern Dharmic (Buddhist, Hinduist, Sikh, and Ayyavazhi faiths), East Asian (Chinese folk religions, Japanese Shinto, and Vietnamese religions), Secular (Irreligious, Atheist, and Agnostic), and Indigenous (practiced by indigenous people in different regions of the globe).

The Abrahamic and Eastern Dharmic religions are by far the ones with the largest constituencies, 48% and 19% of the population respectively. The secular/agnostic/atheist group is the next largest constituency, 17% of the world’s population.

 

Income Distribution by Religious Belief Groups

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This infographic by GOOD shows the income distribution according to different religious belief groups. It is interesting to notice that 43% of people with Hindu beliefs earn an average income of 100K or more. For people with Jewish beliefs the percentage is 46%, compared to 21% for people with Christian beliefs (mainline), and 8% for people with Christian beliefs (Black churches). Click on the image for more detail.

 

The Catholic States of America

Religion in the US - Catholic Rates of Adherence County Map

Membership in the Catholic church in the US has increased in recent years primarily due to immigration from Latin America. States with large Irish- and Italian-American populations also have significant numbers of Catholics. The map above shows membership per 1000 people for all counties in the US. New Mexico, California and Texas have the highest rates of adherents.

Note: The data were downloaded from the Association of Religion Data Archives, www.TheARDA.com

The Evangelical States of America

Religion in the US - Evangelical Protestant Rates of Adherence County Map

Continuing our series of maps about religion in the US, today we take a look at membership in Evangelical Protestant churches. The map above shows the rate of adherence per 1,000 people for all counties in the US (click on the map for the full-size version). Darker colors represent a higher rate of adherence. We split the data into five equal ranges: <200, 200-400, 400-600, 600-800, and > 800. The highest adherence rates can be found in the southern states, which are the traditional stronghold of the Evangelical movement.

Note: The data were downloaded from the Association of Religion Data Archives, www.TheARDA.com

Church Membership in the US

Religion in the US - Rates of Adherence County Map

We recently came across a study about church membership in the US conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The study compiled data on the number of congregations and adherents for 236 religious groups in each county of the US. We were curious about what the data would look like displayed on a map, so we created the thematic map shown above (click on it for the larger version). We chose three colors to represent the rate of adherence: the lighter color is for counties where the rate of adherence is less than 333 per 1000 inhabitants. The medium color is for counties with a rate of adherence between 333 and 667, and the darkest color is for counties with rate of adherence greater than 667 per 1000.

Note: The data were downloaded from the Association of Religion Data Archives, www.TheARDA.com