1. Countries that previously belonged to the Soviet Union, such as Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, and Latvia, see an increase in the importance of religion. That makes sense because the Soviet Union heavily restricted religious practices.
2. Most western countries, such as the United States, Canada, and Switzerland, see a decrease in the importance of religion, but the importance vary greatly.
3. The prosperity of a country tends to increase as we move up the list with China as a clear exception.
the US is really way up there, isn’t it…
Wow, Canada really plummeted. I’m surprised they’re so different from the US, too.
Why northern Ireland has its own statistics?
Sad the US is still so high on this list. That being said I am proud that this country grants the freedom for individuals to worship if they wish. I would be more interested to see the breakdown of the different religions.
The increased for Germany is really concerning.
Not because of the absolute number, bit because of what it indicates.
Russia, Belarus, and Bulgaria are telling. Iron Curtain falls and Christo-nationalism rises.
One good thing communism did.
I”d love to see these stats for Iran.
I can speak for my mom’s family in Sweden. I think a big reason it’s stable there is a lot of them, including my mom’s family, cling to the Lutheran Church as a part of their heritage. Similar to Irish Americans and Catholicism. It’s tied up with ethnicity. It is, after all, called the Church of Sweden. My mom’s family go to church for Advent and Christmas, but that’s about the only time they read from the Bible, I’d reckon.
Good to see that people in many countries are increasingly unconvinced by religious mumbo jumbo.
Difficult to read at a glance whether it increased or decreased for each. Color the bar based on when it went up or down.
Why is religion so important in Nigeria?
Direct correlation to how based the country is when compared to if religion matters. China is an anomalous result.
Confusing layout. I think it doesn’t really convey what it should and needs a few minutes to understand how it’s meant to be read.
Rather than color cording, I’d indicate the starting date with a dot and the end with an arrowhead. That might be less fancy, but better indicates the progression at a glance. You would immediately grasp if the number increased or decreased over time.
Generally however, I think a bar plot with two separate bars, albeit way more crowded, might be the better choice in terms of clarity and legibility.
Edit: also sorting from most negative to most positive change relatively might be a better idea than the way it is sorted right now. It looks pretty, but obscures the data in a way. Or sorting by start date, not end date, which would be more logical when showing a time progression.
V interesting data. I always think these arrow plots are better with arrows to show the direction of travel. My brain is too weak to remember the legend without looking back at it each time
What is happening in Portugal? The difference between it and Spain is striking.
I really think the point of this graph is to reflect how the world as a whole is aligning towards a common theoretical belief about religion. The red data points reflect where we were, the blue reflect where we are. The red points reflect major discrepancies of opinion, where as, the blue points reflect a gradual but consistent merge to a linear pattern.
It’s clear to me that we are shifting from religious beliefs rooted in national culture to a more unified global perspective. It’s actually quite uplifting to see this in general, given the divisiveness we have had to endure in America most recently.
I’m not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person, and I see how positive this will be for the future of humanity. This renews a sense of hope for global peace and tolerance.
As a Norwegian; did they happen to only ask churchgoers, or people 70 and up? I find it hard to believe 35% of us still consider religion anything more than a historic tradition, with very few actively practicing it.
The former Soviet bloc going wildly against the trend is notable here.
Very pleased to see Northern Ireland is one of the bigger decreases. Go us!
Is there a correlation: the shittier your country has become the more religion gets important as an escape?
As a Bulgarian I don’t know a single person that is very religious if at all. People practice the traditions and holidays but that’s all, not even my grandparents or other old relatives are very religious. Most people in fact make fun of the religious people and the corrupt people working in churches
I think in the uk if you take away people of African and Indian sub continent heritage we would have less then 5%
I doubt that 1/3 of Sweden’s population thinks religion is important in their life
The opiate is still strong amongst the masses.
So it’s increasing worldwide? That’s a worrying trend….
It would have been better to list the comparison years in the title or subtitle. I had to look all over the graph to find it. And I only knew it was a comparison of years based on previous content using a similar chart design. With that in mind, the title is poorly worded, given that the graph is suited to show changes over time. Your title doesn’t indicate that at all.
Australia is 29% for the record.
I think the number of religious people increased in Germany because of all he foreigners that recently moved there.
Is that the reason or did anything else happen in there?
![[OC] Percentage of people who say that Religion is very or rather important in their life](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/l6m4e6nztwkf1-1920x1024.png)
31 comments
Data source: [How important religion is to people in life, 2022](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/how-important-religion-is-in-your-life)
Tools used: Matplotlib
Here are three patterns
1. Countries that previously belonged to the Soviet Union, such as Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, and Latvia, see an increase in the importance of religion. That makes sense because the Soviet Union heavily restricted religious practices.
2. Most western countries, such as the United States, Canada, and Switzerland, see a decrease in the importance of religion, but the importance vary greatly.
3. The prosperity of a country tends to increase as we move up the list with China as a clear exception.
the US is really way up there, isn’t it…
Wow, Canada really plummeted. I’m surprised they’re so different from the US, too.
Why northern Ireland has its own statistics?
Sad the US is still so high on this list. That being said I am proud that this country grants the freedom for individuals to worship if they wish. I would be more interested to see the breakdown of the different religions.
The increased for Germany is really concerning.
Not because of the absolute number, bit because of what it indicates.
Russia, Belarus, and Bulgaria are telling. Iron Curtain falls and Christo-nationalism rises.
One good thing communism did.
I”d love to see these stats for Iran.
I can speak for my mom’s family in Sweden. I think a big reason it’s stable there is a lot of them, including my mom’s family, cling to the Lutheran Church as a part of their heritage. Similar to Irish Americans and Catholicism. It’s tied up with ethnicity. It is, after all, called the Church of Sweden. My mom’s family go to church for Advent and Christmas, but that’s about the only time they read from the Bible, I’d reckon.
Good to see that people in many countries are increasingly unconvinced by religious mumbo jumbo.
Difficult to read at a glance whether it increased or decreased for each. Color the bar based on when it went up or down.
Why is religion so important in Nigeria?
Direct correlation to how based the country is when compared to if religion matters. China is an anomalous result.
Confusing layout. I think it doesn’t really convey what it should and needs a few minutes to understand how it’s meant to be read.
Rather than color cording, I’d indicate the starting date with a dot and the end with an arrowhead. That might be less fancy, but better indicates the progression at a glance. You would immediately grasp if the number increased or decreased over time.
Generally however, I think a bar plot with two separate bars, albeit way more crowded, might be the better choice in terms of clarity and legibility.
Edit: also sorting from most negative to most positive change relatively might be a better idea than the way it is sorted right now. It looks pretty, but obscures the data in a way. Or sorting by start date, not end date, which would be more logical when showing a time progression.
V interesting data. I always think these arrow plots are better with arrows to show the direction of travel. My brain is too weak to remember the legend without looking back at it each time
What is happening in Portugal? The difference between it and Spain is striking.
I really think the point of this graph is to reflect how the world as a whole is aligning towards a common theoretical belief about religion. The red data points reflect where we were, the blue reflect where we are. The red points reflect major discrepancies of opinion, where as, the blue points reflect a gradual but consistent merge to a linear pattern.
It’s clear to me that we are shifting from religious beliefs rooted in national culture to a more unified global perspective. It’s actually quite uplifting to see this in general, given the divisiveness we have had to endure in America most recently.
I’m not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person, and I see how positive this will be for the future of humanity. This renews a sense of hope for global peace and tolerance.
As a Norwegian; did they happen to only ask churchgoers, or people 70 and up? I find it hard to believe 35% of us still consider religion anything more than a historic tradition, with very few actively practicing it.
The former Soviet bloc going wildly against the trend is notable here.
Very pleased to see Northern Ireland is one of the bigger decreases. Go us!
Is there a correlation: the shittier your country has become the more religion gets important as an escape?
As a Bulgarian I don’t know a single person that is very religious if at all. People practice the traditions and holidays but that’s all, not even my grandparents or other old relatives are very religious. Most people in fact make fun of the religious people and the corrupt people working in churches
I think in the uk if you take away people of African and Indian sub continent heritage we would have less then 5%
I doubt that 1/3 of Sweden’s population thinks religion is important in their life
The opiate is still strong amongst the masses.
So it’s increasing worldwide? That’s a worrying trend….
It would have been better to list the comparison years in the title or subtitle. I had to look all over the graph to find it. And I only knew it was a comparison of years based on previous content using a similar chart design. With that in mind, the title is poorly worded, given that the graph is suited to show changes over time. Your title doesn’t indicate that at all.
Australia is 29% for the record.
I think the number of religious people increased in Germany because of all he foreigners that recently moved there.
Is that the reason or did anything else happen in there?
Comments are closed.