One of my smart commenters then posed a very interesting question. Does the same thing hold true of countries? Are the richest countries less religious than the poorest countries? I decided to look at that question. I have listed below the countries the survey found to be the most and least religious. I then looked at the per capita GDP of each of those countries (since with the wide variance in population, per capita is the only fair comparison). For the per capita GDP figures (in U.S. dollars), I used the figures put out by the International Monetary Fund since their figures were the most recent for all countries. Here is what I found (with the figure in parentheses being the percentage claiming to be religious):
LEAST RELIGIOUS COUNTRIES
1. China (14%)...............$8,382
2. Japan (16%)...............$37,740
3. Czech Republic (20%)...............$27,062
4. Turkey (23%)...............$14,517
5. Sweden (29%)...............$40,394
6. Vietnam (30%)...............$3,359
7. Australia (37%)...............$40,234
8. France (37%)...............$35,156
9. Hong Kong (38%)...............$49,137
10. Austria (42%)...............$41,822
11. Netherlands (43%)...............$42,183
12. Azerbaijan (44%)...............$10,202
13. Canada (46%)...............$40,541
14. Ireland (47%)...............$39,639
15. Switzerland (50%)...............$43,370
16. Germany (51%)...............$37,897
17. Spain (52%)...............$30,626
18. South Korea (52%)...............$31,714
19. Finland (53%)...............$36,236
20. Russia (55%)...............$16,736
21. Iceland (57%)...............$39,639
22. Bulgaria (59%)...............$13,597
23. Belgium (59%)...............$37,737
24. United States (60%)...............$48,387
MOST RELIGIOUS COUNTRIES
1. Ghana (96%)...............$3,083
2. Nigeria (93%)...............$2,578
3. Armenia (92%)...............$5,384
4. Fiji (92%)...............$4,620
5. Macedonia (90%)...............$10,367
6. Romania (89%)...............$12,476
7. Iraq (88%)...............$3,886
8. Kenya (88%)...............$1,746
9. Peru (86%)...............$10,062
10. Brazil (85%)...............$11,769
11. Georgia (84%)...............$5,491
12. Pakistan (84%)...............$2,787
13. Afghanistan (83%)...............$956
14. Moldava (83%)...............$3,373
15. Columbia (83%)...............$10,249
16. Cameroon (82%)...............$2,257
17. Malaysia (81%)...............$15,568
18. India (81%)...............$3,694
19. Poland (81%)...............$20,334
20. South Sudan (79%)...............$2,726
21. Uzbekistan (79%)...............$3,302
22. Serbia (77%)...............$10,642
23. Tunisia (75%)...............$9,478
24. Saudi Arabia (75%)...............$24,237
So there it is. The per capita wealth doesn't exactly translate into religiosity and there are some anomalies. But in general terms, I would have to say that the richest countries are less religious than the poorest countries. What do you think? In general terms, does wealth tend to suppress religiosity?
There may be an emotional component to "rich equals less religious" and "poor equals more religious"...if you have to struggle each day to survive with little hope of getting ahead financially, you may be more given to praying for deliverance from your emotional and financial ghetto. I think that if more people had a way out of poverty and had access to education, the less they might "rely on religion". So, maybe "hopelessness" equals more religious and "hopefulness" might lead to less religious. My premise may be flawed but my research shows that predominately Catholic countries have less prosperous citizens with VERY large families and splendid Catholic churches. Then there is the anomaly of China. Communist, Buddhist, with state mandated one child rule. There may be too many variables to connect wealth with religiosity but I see more instances that point to a connection than not. It would be interesting if some think tank would do an investigation on this subject.
ReplyDeleteI would be less inclined to think that wealth suppresses religion than to think that poverty fosters it. The more desperate the conditions in which a person lives in the present, the more receptive he is to reward in a "next life."
ReplyDeleteI see your point but I don't think wealth "suppresses" religion. I think people with wealth don't have a need for "religious comfort" as much as people in poverty do who don't see anything or anyone else coming to their rescue.
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