09 September 2010

Poor Countries Usually More Religious

Poor countries have a strong tendency to have more people who are more religious than rich countries. The United States is the main outlier to this trend. A graph showing the relationship between per capita GDP and strength of religious feeling as measured by a survey is found here.

While the United States in not the most religious country in the world, the vast majority of nations as prosperous as it is are far more secular. Italy and Greece are the closest fellow outliers. Source data here.

1 comment:

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...

Query. Is it because the U.S. has more poor people, even though it is more affluent on average?