Among 25 most populous countries, Russia, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Nigeria have highest overall levels of government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion: Pew Research Center
IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, April 16: India is the fourth country from the top to have witnessed rise in social hostilities involving religion by private individuals, organizations or social groups in the year 2015 after two years of decline.
Among the world’s 25 most populous countries, Russia, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Nigeria have highest overall levels of government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion, says the latest report from the Pew Research Center.
As for social hostilities involving religion recorded till Dec 2015, India is at fourth position in the list of 198 countries covered by Pew.
India is followed by Israel while top three are: Syria, Nigeria and Iraq.
While on government restrictions, the country is on 39th position.
World’s top five countries on this front are: Egypt, China, Iran, Russia and Uzbekistan.
The government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion increased in 2015 for the first time in three years, according to Pew’s latest annual study on global restrictions on religion.
Government Restrictions Index in India
Social Hostilities Index in India
Dec 2014
Dec 2015
Dec 2014
Dec 2015
4.5
5.1
7.9
8.7
Source: Pew Research Center
“The share of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions – i.e., laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices – ticked up from 24% in 2014 to 25% in 2015. Meanwhile, the percentage of countries with high or very high levels of social hostilities – i.e., acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations or groups in society – increased in 2015, from 23% to 27%. Both of these increases follow two years of declines in the percentage of countries with high levels of restrictions on religion by these measures,” says the report.
“Nigeria, India, Russia, Pakistan and Egypt had the highest levels of social hostilities involving religion among the 25 most populous countries in 2015. All fell into the “very high” hostilities category. Ethiopia, Vietnam, Brazil, Japan and China, meanwhile, had the lowest levels of social hostilities, and all fell into the “moderate” category. The fact that none of the 25 most populous countries fell into the “low” social hostilities category may indicate that large populations carry an inherently greater risk of incidents of social hostilities, simply because there are more people,” says the Pew report.
