Most Wealthy Countries Aren't Religious

Most Wealthy Countries Aren't Religious
AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

America is the most religious wealthy country in the world, according to a recent survey.

A Pew survey found that Americans said they prayed more than any other wealthy nation surveyed.

Fifty-five percent of Americans report praying at least once daily, 6 percentage points higher than the international average. While this may not seem like a big gap on its own, America is an extreme statistical outlier when it comes to countries with at least a $30,000 per person GDP. In this category, the global average hovers around 40 percent. In Canada, for example, only 25 percent of people pray daily. That number drops to 22 percent in Europe (on average), 18 percent in Australia, and a minuscule 6 percent in Great Britain.

In fact, the study's authors found, America was the only country out of the 102 surveyed to score higher-than-average on metrics of both religiosity, or the reported frequency of prayer, as well as national wealth, as measured in GDP per capita. By contrast, countries that report daily prayer rate comparable to the United States tend to be poorer, such as Bolivia (56 percent) and Bangladesh (57 percent).

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