List of Top 10 Most Religious Countries Released
A new survey revealed that the majority of the world's 10 most religious countries is in the Middle East — seven to be exact. Two are in South Asia while only one is in North Africa. Ironically, almost all of the nations are embroiled in varying degrees of religious extremism.
The Top 10 Most Religious Countries in 2017 are Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, India, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Turkey. Except for Israel where Judaism is the main religion, all the Middle Eastern countries on the list are dominated by Muslims. Hinduism is largely observed in India and Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia, which topped the list, is the largest nation in the Middle East and ranked as the ninth most powerful country. Like all other Muslim nations, its legal system is based on the Shariah law which imposes harsh punishments for crimes that include blasphemy and converting to other religions.
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Coming in second is the Jewish state of Israel. This finding, however, contradicts a 2015 poll by Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research and Gallup International wherein only 30 percent of Israelis claimed to be religious. The rest of the 65 percent are either not religious or convinced atheists.
Egypt, India and Pakistan were found to have the highest levels of religious restrictions that include harassment and use of force by governments. Coptic churches are bombed in Egypt, Hindu nationalism is espoused in India while religious hostilities are being reported in Pakistan.
The 10 most religious countries survey was conducted by marketing and communications company Young & Rubicam in partnership with Wharton School. It is one of the 24 rankings done under the Best Countries analysis project to capture how countries are perceived on a global scale.
The rankings evaluated 80 countries drawn from a survey of 21,000 global citizens, measuring 75 dimensions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment, and directly affect national economies. The results are published in the U.S. News & World Report website.
