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Rising Restrictions on Religion

One-third of the world's population experiences an increase

Social Hostilities Index

The following table shows all 198 countries and territories in descending order of their scores on the Pew Forum’s index of social hostilities involving religion as of mid-2009. The Pew Forum has not attached numerical rankings to the countries because there are numerous tie scores and the differences between the scores of countries that are close to each other on this table are not necessarily meaningful. This is particularly the case at the low end of the scale: The range of scores among the 40 countries in the Very High (top 5%) and high (next 15%) categories is greater than the range of scores among the 115 countries in the Low (bottom 60%) category.


Very High
top 5% of scores 

Scores from 7.2 to 8.3    
Iraq SomaliaIsrael
IndiaIndonesiaEgypt
PakistanNigeria   
AfghanistanBangladesh 

High
Next 15% of scores 

Scores from 4.7 to 7.1    
YemenComoros Denmark  
Palestinian territories  KenyaBurma (Myanmar)
Sri Lanka Russia  Moldova
Saudi ArabiaTurkeyThailand  
SudanMexicoLebanon  
Nepal SerbiaBulgaria  
Iran EthiopiaUnited Kingdom  
AlgeriaKyrgyzstan Congo
SyriaRomaniaGhana
JordanVietnam  Timor-Leste

Moderate
Next 20% of scores 

Scores from 2.5 to 4.6    
Mongolia  MaldivesSierra Leone
Colombia SlovakiaMontenegro
GermanyItalyKuwait
GeorgiaLiberia  Tuvalu
PhilippinesMoroccoSpain
Bosnia-HerzegovinaSweden  Djibouti
China  AzerbaijanCyprus
GreeceCentral African RepublicUnited States
Armenia SwitzerlandAustralia
KosovoKazakhstanBurkina Faso
BelarusUzbekistanRepublic of Macedonia
FranceLibya 
UkraineZimbabwe 
BahrainPapua New Guinea 
Ivory CoastPoland 

Low
Bottom 60% of scores 

Scores from 0.0 to 2.4   
CroatiaArgentinaPalau
CanadaLiechtensteinQatar
BruneiSloveniaSolomon Islands
HungaryZambiaPeru
AngolaChileGabon
BelgiumSwazilandBotswana
Chad  PortugalEl Salvador
South Africa CameroonRepublic of Congo
TajikistanGambiaSingapore
AustriaBeninSenegal
Tanzania  BoliviaAndorra
VenezuelaSamoaBahamas
BrazilLaosJamaica
BurundiBhutanMarshall Islands
GuineaIrelandOman
MalaysiaUnited Arab EmiratesCape Verde
Trinidad and TobagoNew Zealand Malta
IcelandSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesBelize
NetherlandsEritreaDominican Republic
JapanLatviaEquatorial Guinea
KiribatiCosta RicaFederated States of Micronesia
Western Sahara ParaguayGrenada
MauritaniaFinlandGuyana
CubaNauruLesotho
Czech RepublicAntigua and BarbudaMacau
NorwaySt. Kitts and NevisMonaco
St. LuciaMadagascarPanama
UgandaEstoniaRwanda
LithuaniaGuinea BissauSan Marino
FijiHondurasSao Tome and Principe
MalawiAlbaniaSeychelles
NamibiaMaliSouth Korea
GuatemalaNicaraguaSuriname
NigerCambodiaTaiwan
MozambiqueEcuadorTogo
TurkmenistanHong KongTonga
HaitiUruguay 
VanuatuBarbados 
El SalvadorDominica 
Northern CyprusLuxembourg 

Footnotes: 

Denotes a substantial increase from mid-2006 to mid-2009.

Denotes a substantial decrease from mid-2006 to mid-2009.

NOTE: The number of countries in each percentile range may be slightly more or less than the actual percentage because of tie scores. Substantial increase or decrease is defined as a change of at least 1.5 standard deviations above or below the mean amount of change among all 198 countries on each index. The change also had to be in the same direction over the periods studied. (See Methodology for more details.)

North Korea: The sources clearly indicate that the government of North Korea is among the most repressive in the world with respect to religion as well as other civil liberties. But because North Korean society is effectively closed to outsiders, the sources are unable to provide the kind of specific and timely information that the Pew Forum coded in this quantitative study. Therefore, the report does not include a score for North Korea on either index.

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