By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – The Pew study on Friday ranked 201 countries based on how evenly religious communities are represented, with Singapore topping the list and several South Asian nations scores low.
India ranked among the more religiously diverse countries in the world, while Pakistan and Bangladesh are placed near the bottom low of the global Religious Diversity Index (RDI), according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
The findings are based on data from 2020 and look at how evenly different religious communities are spread within each country.
The study tried to measure whether a nation is dominated by one religion or home to a more balanced mix.
Researchers reviewed 201 countries and territories and grouped people into 7 broad categories: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, followers of other religions, and those with no religious affiliation.
Each country was then given a score between 0 and 10.
A higher score means the population is more evenly shared among these groups, while a lower score suggests that one religion makes up most of the population.
Singapore emerged as the world’s most religiously diverse country, scored 9.3 on the index.
No country achieved a perfect 10, but Singapore came closest to an even balance among major religious groups.
Buddhists form 31 per cent of its population, followed by religiously unaffiliated people (20 per cent), Christians (19 per cent), Muslims (16 per cent), Hindus (5 per cent) and others (9 per cent).
Suriname ranked second, while Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Mauritius, Guinea-Bissau, Togo and Benin were also in the top 10.
France was the only European country to feature in this group.
Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia were among the least diverse, with Muslims accounted for 99%or more of their populations.
On the world’s 10 most populous countries, the United States (RDI rank 32) ranked first in religious diversity, followed by Nigeria (34), Russia (47), India (78), and Brazil (83).
Bangladesh and Pakistan were among the least diverse of the large nations studied, ranked 133rd and 165th respectively.
Muslims account for 91% of Bangladesh’s population and 97% of Pakistan’s.
Asia-Pacific region recorded the highest level of diversity among global regions, while the Middle East-North Africa region was the least diverse.
The study noted that in most countries, a single religious group forms a majority.
Only a small number of countries have 4 or more religious groups, each made up at least 5% of the population, Pew study concluded.
