Singapore is the most religiously diverse country in the world, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.
The study deems a country more religiously-diverse if its population is more evenly distributed among eight religious groups — Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, adherents of folk or traditional religions, adherents of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated.
Singapore’s population is mostly Buddhist (34 percent), while 18 percent are Christian, 16 percent are religiously unaffiliated, 14 percent are Muslim, five percent are Hindu and less than one percent are Jewish. The remainder of the population belongs to folk or traditional religions (two percent) or to other religions considered as a group (10%).
The island nation is one of 12 countries with a 'very high' degree of religious diversity. Five others are in the Asia-Pacific region (China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam), five are in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Togo) and one is in Latin America and the Caribbean (Suriname).
Countries like France have a 'high' degree of religious diversity, with the US and Iran considered to have 'moderate' and 'low' levels respectively.
The study made use of statistics obtained from its 2012 report The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010 that analysed religious diversity in 232 countries and territories for the year 2010.
Photo: AFP
Singapore is the most religiously diverse country in the world, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.
The study deems a country more religiously-diverse if its population is more evenly distributed among eight religious groups — Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, adherents of folk or traditional religions, adherents of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated.
Singapore’s population is mostly Buddhist (34 percent), while 18 percent are Christian, 16 percent are religiously unaffiliated, 14 percent are Muslim, five percent are Hindu and less than one percent are Jewish. The remainder of the population belongs to folk or traditional religions (two percent) or to other religions considered as a group (10%).
The island nation is one of 12 countries with a 'very high' degree of religious diversity. Five others are in the Asia-Pacific region (China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam), five are in sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Togo) and one is in Latin America and the Caribbean (Suriname).
Countries like France have a 'high' degree of religious diversity, with the US and Iran considered to have 'moderate' and 'low' levels respectively.
The study made use of statistics obtained from its 2012 report The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010 that analysed religious diversity in 232 countries and territories for the year 2010.
Photo: AFP