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WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., May 2, 2003: The Pew Research Center surveyed 44 nations from around the world and discovered religion is much more important to Americans than to people living in other wealthy nations. 59% of people in the U.S. say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This is roughly twice the percentage of self-avowed religious people in Canada and an even higher proportion when compared with Japan and Western Europe. Americans’ views are closer to people in developing nations than to the publics of developed nations. The survey shows stark global regional divides over the personal importance of religion. In Africa, no fewer than eight-in-ten in any country see religion as very important personally. Majorities in every Latin American country also subscribe to that view, with the exception of Argentina. More than nine-in-ten respondents in the predominantly Muslim nations of Indonesia, Pakistan, Mali and Senegal rate religion as personally very important while 92% of people living in India subscribe to the view that religion is important in their daily lives. Secularism is particularly prevalent throughout Europe, even in heavily Catholic Italy where fewer than 27% people say religion is very important personally, a lack of intensity in belief that is consistent with opinion in other Western European nations. This poll is part of the Pew Global Attitudes Project whose first major report, “What the World Thinks in 2002,” focusing on how people view their lives, their countries and the world, was released Dec. 4, 2002 and is available online at www.people-press.org .

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