Two out of three people in the world live in countries with high levels of restrictions on religion, a new Pew Research Center report found.
Sixty-four nations out of 198 countries and territories – about one-third of the countries in the world – analyzed have high or very high restrictions on religion. Though a minority of countries are restrictive, these countries have large populations. That translates to nearly 70 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people living in countries with high restrictions on religion, which mostly affect religious minorities.
Pew studied both government actions, such as constitutional limitations or prohibitions on religious speech, as well as social hostilities by private groups, such as religion-related terrorism and violence between religious groups.
Looking just at the 25 most populous countries, the most restrictive on both measures are Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and India.
The study also found that most countries promise religious freedom in their constitutions or basic laws, but only a quarter fully respect this legal right in practice.
-- from The Christian Post