Friday, May 3, 2019

Pew Research: Fewer Pray in Islamic Republic of Pakistan Than in India, Iran

Pew Religious Landscape Study has revealed that 67% of the people in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan pray daily. This figure of 67% in Pakistan is lower than neighboring India's 75%, Iran's 87% and Afghanistan's 97%. Other Muslim majority nations surveyed include Nigeria (95%), Indonesia (84%), Egypt (72%) and Turkey (60%). Oil-rich Arabian Gulf nations were not included in the survey. The Pew study found an inverse relationship between daily prayer levels and incomes. Countries such as the United States and Vietnam are outliers.

Daily Prayer Map: Source: Pew Research

The Pew survey shows that the level of daily prayer is the lowest in rich countries and highest in the poor nations. United States is an outlier rich nation with 55% of Americans saying they pray daily. The survey did not include wealthy Muslim nations in the Arabian Peninsula, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which might be expected to have high levels of prayer.


Level of Daily Prayer Inversely Proportional to Income. Source: Pew Research

Here's what the report says about daily prayer rich nations:

"This May 2 is the National Day of Prayer in the United States, a day Congress set aside in 1952 for Americans to turn “to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups and as individuals.” But many Americans pray every day – not just on the Day of Prayer. Indeed, out of 102 countries examined for frequency of prayer by Pew Research Center, the U.S. is unique in that it has both a high level of wealth ($56,000 per-capita gross domestic product in 2015) and a high level of daily prayer among its population (55% according to the 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study). In every other wealthy country surveyed – that is, those with a per-capita GDP over $30,000 – fewer than 40% of adults say they pray every day. For example, in Japan, where per-capita GDP is about $38,000, roughly a third (33%) pray daily. In Norway, where per-capita GDP is about $68,000, fewer than one-in-five adults (18%) do. (It’s worth noting that the surveys did not include wealthy countries in the Arabian Peninsula, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which might be expected to have high levels of prayer.)"

Here's an excerpt of the report on poor nations:

"At the other end of the economic spectrum, countries with less wealth tend to have higher rates of prayer. In fact, every country where at least 70% of adults say that they pray each day has a per-capita GDP under $20,000. For example, in Egypt, where 72% say they pray every day, per-capita GDP is about $11,000. And in Afghanistan, where 96% of adults say they pray every day, the per-capita GDP is about $2,000."

There as exceptions to the norm about higher daily prayer in poor countries, according to the report: "That said, not every country with low wealth has a high level of daily prayer. In Vietnam and Bulgaria – where per-capita GDPs are $6,000 and $19,000, respectively – the shares of adults who say they pray daily are 14% and 15%. (Among all 102 countries examined, the national average share of people who say they pray daily is 49%.)"


Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

The Culture of Corruption in Pakistan

Income, Corruption and Religiosity

Incompetence and Corruption in Pakistan

Deeply Religious People Profoundly Ignorant About Religion?

Income and Wealth in India and Pakistan

Infections Cause Low IQ in Africa, South Asia?

NRO Amnesty Order Overturned

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

East Asians are uniquely blessed in that religion has never played a significant political role.

In China's 4000 year history there has never been a single war in the name of religion.
Same with Japan and Korea minor skirmishes aside there is no equivalent of the crusades,islamic conquests of the greater middle east or the 1000 year Hindu Muslim bloodbath of the subcontinent.

M. Ashraf said...

Thank you

I observed two salience.
1. China up and coming power has a meagre 1% beleiving in God
2. Those who have praying God more are basically poor or developing ones except in few cases.
Does this imply God has lost his usefulness?

Riaz Haq said...

Ashraf: "Does this imply God has lost his usefulness?"

I think Pew results have more to do with broad disenchantment with organized #religion rather than loss of belief in God. More and more people now see mullahs and priests as serving themselves rather than serving God and God's creation.

Asghar said...

Great. I had similar graph which you published in one of your blogs few year ago. I wish we could graph education level over this.

Riaz Haq said...

Asghar: " I wish we could graph education level over this."

Hindus and Muslims Well Educated in US But Least Educated Worldwide

http://www.riazhaq.com/2016/12/hindus-and-muslims-well-educated-in-us.html

Are immigrants in the United States or United Kingdom or any other host country truly representative samples of the populations in their places of origin? Are American Hindu or Muslim demographics comparable to those of the countries they left? A recent report done by Pew Research answers these questions with substantial amount of data on educational attainment.

Aman Goel said...

Look Sir Ji, this list just proves that religion has nothing to do with education.
1. Jews are top the graph being concentrated in developed countries.
2. Hindus are down the graph being concentrated in a lower middle income country (94% of Hindus are Indian).
3. Buddhists have concentration in developed and upper middle income countries, hence still a good enough position.
4. Christians and Muslims are spread around globe. Christians have greater proportion in developed ones while Muslims have greater in developing world.

Hence, solved.

Anonymous said...

"Are immigrants in the United States or United Kingdom or any other host country truly representative samples of the populations in their places of origin?"

You are forgetting the nature of immigrants. Laze, content poeple usually don't immigrate, it is mostly the ambitious and hard workers who immigrate or seek greener pastures (except in the case of great calamaries). So it is not only Indian and Pakisanis in US who are better educated, but I am sure this is true for any immigrant group who comes to US.
As my foreign students counselor in college once told me that it is the cream of other countries that comes to us for higher education.

Zamir

Anonymous said...

"Are immigrants in the United States or United Kingdom or any other host country truly representative samples of the populations in their places of origin?"

You are forgetting the nature of immigrants. Laze, content poeple usually don't immigrate, it is mostly the ambitious and hard workers who immigrate or seek greener pastures (except in the case of great calamaries). So it is not only Indian and Pakisanis in US who are better educated, but I am sure this is true for any immigrant group who comes to US.
As my foreign students counselor in college once told me that it is the cream of other countries that comes to us for higher education.

Zamir

Rks said...

Praying in Hindu sense and Islamic sense is very different. Just one second prayer counts in Hinduism. I guess, in Islam, it is a far more structured ritual.