Nearly half of the countries in the world have an official religion, have a preferred faith or are hostile to religious institutions, Pew Research Center research finds.
Islam is the most common official religion, with 27 countries naming Sunni Islam, Shia Islam or Islam in general as their official faith, Pew data shows. An additional 13 countries name some form of Christianity as their official faith, two name Buddhism and just one, Israel, names Judaism. Christianity is the most frequent preferred religion, with 28 countries favoring the faith or a certain denomination of it over others, while three name Islam, four name Buddhism and the remainder name multiple religions.
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