Afghanistan has been mired by chronic instability and conflict in its modern history, from the Cold War to the civil wars between the Mujahedeen and the Taliban. Most recently, Afghanistan has been the stage of the Afghan War (2001-2014) – fought between a coalition of US, NATO, and Afghan troops […]

Albania is a constitutionally secular country in the western Balkans with a population of 2.8 million people.1“Albania”, World Bank Open Data. Accessed 1 July 2024, https://data.worldbank.org/country/albania According to the 2011 census, the religious demography of the country constitutes a Muslim majority (56.7%), Roman Catholic (10%), and Albanian Orthodox (6.8%). The […]

As declared in the constitution, Algeria is a Sunni Islamic State. Non-religious groups meet in secret to avoid state persecution and social approbation. Algeria is a member of the League of Arab States (LAS), as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Constitution and government The current constitution was […]

Andorra is a co-Principality with a democratic parliamentary system. The President of France and the Spanish Bishop of Urgell are co-princes of Andorra, who hold honorary positions as heads of state.1https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17028050 With a population of 78,000,2https://www.estadistica.ad/serveiestudis/web/index.asp?lang=4 Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in the country and benefits from a privileged […]

Angola was a Portuguese colony before 1975, gaining independence only after a protracted liberation war, which was followed by a bloody civil war. The socialist-inspired national flag features a gear, a star, and a machete, the latter representing both agricultural production and armed struggle. Long time President Jose Eduardo dos […]

Antigua and Barbuda is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy, and a member of the Commonwealth. As such, the British monarch – and head of the Church of England – is its head of state. In September 2022, the nation’s prime minister announced their intention to call a referendum on becoming a […]

Argentina is a country on the southern cone of South America, which obtained its independence from Spain in 1816. Argentina is a federal republic with an established constitution, an elected two chamber Congress and an elected president acting as head of state. A majority Catholic nation (62.9%), the non-religiously affiliated […]

The Republic of Armenia is a democratic sovereign state in western Asia with a population of approximately 3 million people. The Armenian Apostolic Church is the country’s primary religious establishment with 94% of the population as adherents. In 301CE, Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its national […]

A continent in itself, Australia is a federal, parliamentary democracy. With a population in excess of 25.9 million, and a total area of 7,692,024 km2, it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.1https://www.abs.gov.au/ According to the 2021 Census,2https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021 44% of those who responded were Christian, 39% […]

Austria is a democratic Republic with an elected Federal President and a Democratic parliament. Following Presidential Elections in October 2022, Alexander Van der Bellen was re-elected for President on a 56.7% majority.1https://bundeswahlen.gv.at/2022/ He is a member of the Greens Party, which advocates for environmentalism and equal social justice.2https://gruene.at/organisation/partei/ According to […]

The Republic of Azerbaijan is a contiguous transcontinental presidential republic in the Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Historically divided across Russia and Persia, the current territory of Azerbaijan had a brief period of independence in 1918 before being incorporated into the Soviet Union […]

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is an island country consisting of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean. The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973. It is a constitutional parliamentary democracy. The population is estimated to be 389,482 according to 2019 World Bank estimates.1https://datacommons.org/place/country/BHS?utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=Person&hl=en […]

Bahrain has a population of 1.3 million, of which only half are citizens. Citizens belong mostly to Islam (99%), the remaining 1% are Christians, Hindus, Baha’is and Jews. There are no statistics regarding Shia and Sunni representation, however, it can be assumed that Shiites represent a majority. The other half […]

Formerly part of India, and subsequently forming the eastern wing of Pakistan that was carved out of India in 1947 when British colonial rule ended; Bangladesh is located in the northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent, and has been independent since 1971. Following its independence, Bangladesh fell into authoritarianism until […]

A sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles, Barbados is a parliamentary democracy with an estimated population of 269,809 at the end of 2021. According to the Barbados Statistical Service, the population is shrinking with the death rate continuously exceeding the birth rate since 2016.1https://stats.gov.bb/subjects/social-demographic-statistics/population-demography-statistics/ The population is predominantly Christian […]

Belarus, a former soviet republic, attained independence in 1991. Belarus’ ties with Russia influence both its economic and political direction. President Lukashenko is often dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”. He has been in power since 1994. In August 2020, the largest protests in the country’s history began to demand Lukashenko’s departure after […]

Belgium, a nation of 11.3 million, has a federal constitution with three levels of power. The Communities (French, Flemish, German), the Regions (Walloon, Flanders, Brussels) and the Federal State each have their own responsibilities, mandates and scope. It is believed that over 40% of Belgium’s population identify as non-believers/agnostics (no […]

Located in the Caribbean, Belize is a former colony, which became independent from Britain in 1981. It is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. It recognizes Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, who is represented in the country by the position of the Governor-General.1http://www.caribbeanelections.com/bz/education/government_structure.asp According to a national census conducted by the […]

Benin, despite being underdeveloped has been a stable democracy until democratic institutions were weakened in 2016, the country ranks 158 out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index scale for 2021.1http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/BEN Political freedom and judicial independence have faced major setbacks after Patrice Talon came to power in 2016.2https://freedomhouse.org/country/benin/freedom-world/2021 Opposition […]

Bhutan is a landlocked country bordered by China and India, with a small population of around 770,000. The difficult topography of Bhutan has kept it isolated from global influence. Having never been colonized, Bhutan has been relatively free to forge its own identity and political system. In 2008, it transitioned […]

The Plurinational State of Bolivia is a landlocked country and a democratic republic located in South America. In 2006, the assumption of power by the first indigenous president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was followed by a review of the role of the Catholic Church in the country and its influence […]

Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence in 1992, although the State is still subject to a degree of international oversight under the terms of the 1995 Dayton Accords which marked the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war and the break up of the former Yugoslavia.1“Bosnia-Herzegovina country profile”, BBC (last updated October […]

With an estimated population of 2.3 million, the Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa.1https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=BW Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, the country became the Republic of Botswana after independence in 1966 and remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It has a reputation as a stable […]

The Federative Republic of Brazil is a secular and democratic sovereign state in South America with a population of around 202 million. Often described as an emerging world power, it is the sixth largest country in the world by population and fifth by area, and one of just 17 countries […]

The Sultanate of Brunei is a Malay Islamic Monarchy located on the north coast of the island of Borneo – an island shared with two other countries, namely Indonesia and Malaysia – in Southeast Asia. The country has a population of 484,991 the majority of whom are Muslim (82.1%). Other […]

The Republic of Bulgaria is a democratic sovereign state in southeastern Europe with a population of 7.5 million and bordered by Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea. The Constitution guarantees “the life, dignity and rights of the individual and shall create conditions conducive to the free development […]

Renamed in 1984 to Burkina Faso (“land of the upright/honest people”), the country gained independence from France in 1960. It is completely landlocked, surrounded by Mali and Niger to the North and Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire to the south. President Blaise Compaoré ruled the country from 1987 and was ousted […]

Burundi is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of East Africa. Historically a Bantu Kingdom that was incorporated into German East Africa, it then came under Belgian rule until independence in 1962. It initially maintained its monarchy which was subsequently replaced by a one-party system. A multi-party system […]

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, with a Prime Minister who is head of government and a King who is head of state. Cambodia remains under the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen (in power since 1985), following a military coup orchestrated by Hun Sen in 1997. Hun Sen’s government is […]

The Republic of Cameroon population is estimated to be 27.7 million,1https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/cameroon/ and is composed of more than 275 ethnic groups.2https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/cameroon/ 70% of the population is Christian, 18% Muslim, 3.3% animist, and 5.5% reports no religious affiliation.3https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/cameroon/ Many members of other faiths also adhere to some aspects of animist beliefs.4https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/cameroon/ There […]

Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy, extending north into the Arctic Ocean, and sharing the world’s longest land border with the United States. Despite what should be strong constitutional protections for freedom of thought and expression, significant religious privileges are in force, both nationally and in several of its ten […]

The former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde (or Cabo Verde) comprises nine main islands off the west coast of Africa. Poor in natural resources, the Cape Verde islands have nevertheless won a reputation for achieving political and economic stability. According to the most recent census data (2010),1https://ine.cv/en/quadros/rgph-2010-cabo-verde-em-numeros/ the majority of […]

Since 2013, the Central African Republic (CAR) has been plagued by serious and violent sectarian conflict, constituting a civil war, including a military coup. Almost 80% of the country remains under the control of armed forces.1https://www.equaltimes.org/central-african-refugees-are#.YMCU6_lKg2w Sporadic outbreaks of violence, including in the wake of the December 2020 general election,2https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/briefing/2021/3/603dfeb64/unhcr-relocate-thousands-central-african-refugees-safer-locations.html […]

A landlocked country sharing borders with Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger, Chad’s geography, geopolitics and oil resources have contributed to cycles of violence and corruption. Since the death of President Idriss Déby on April 19, 2021, the country has been ruled by his son, Mahamat Idriss […]

Located on the Pacific coast of South America, the Republic of Chile is bordered by Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It is a presidential republic. Recent censuses have not captured religious demographic data. However, according to a study conducted by Ipsos in 2023, 76% of the Chilean population believe in the […]

China, the world’s most populous country with about 1.4 billion inhabitants,1“China”, The World Factbook, CIA, last updated 13 November 2024 https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/china/#introduction[/ref] has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world–averaging 9% per year.[ref]“China: Overview”, The World Bank Group, last updated 24 October 2024 https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview It has remained under Communist one-party […]

The Republic of Colombia is predominantly Christian and majority Roman Catholic (64%). According to Latinobarómetro, based on a survey of 1,200 people in 2023, 16% of the population likely identify as atheist, agnostic or having no religious affiliation.1“Informe Latinobarómetro 2023: La recesión democrática de América Latina”, Corporación Latinobarómetro, https://www.latinobarometro.org/latOnline.jsp For […]

The archipelago island nation of Comoros lies off the east coast of Africa and has a population of around 800,000, making it one of the least but also most densely populated countries. Around 98% of the population identify as Sunni Muslim.1https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/comoros/ Following a referendum in 2009, the government introduced a […]

Extremely rich in natural resources and with a population of over 108 million, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC; also Congo-Kinshasa) has been wracked by civil conflict and massive human rights abuses for decades. The country’s population is made up of more than 200 African ethnic groups, its official language […]

A former part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa, independent since 1960, the Republic of Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville, borders its larger namesake the Democratic Republic of Congo to the east. It was formerly known as the People’s Republic of the Congo, a Marxist–Leninist single-party state, from 1970 to 1991. […]

The Republic of Costa Rica borders Nicaragua and Panama. A former Spanish colony, Roman Catholicism is the state religion of Costa Rica. Lauded as one of the most stable democracies in the region, rule of law is generally upheld.1“Costa Rica”, Britannica, accessed 10 December 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Costa-Rica; “Costa Rica” chapter in […]

A presidential democratic republic, Côte d’Ivoire (or Ivory Coast) is located in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. The country declared independence from France in 1960 and was considered a stable and prosperous nation for three subsequent decades. In recent times, the country has been through a troubled period, […]

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska), is a unitary, indivisible democratic, social, and parliamentary constitutional republic. After Croatia formally declared its independence and dissolved its association with Yugoslavia in 1991, the Croatian War of Independence started. The war ended in 1995. The present day borders of Croatia […]

The largest island country in the Caribbean, Cuba has a population of approximately 11 million. The Republic of Cuba is one of the world’s last remaining Communist states. There is no official state religion, however a majority of the population are Christian (58.9%). The nonreligious make up the next largest […]

The Republic of Cyprus is a sovereign island State in southeastern Europe. Situated in the Mediterranean Sea, it is located close to Turkey (north), Syria and Lebanon (east), Israel (south east), Egypt (south) and Greece (west). The country gained independence from British Rule in August 1960, after the London-Zurich agreements […]

The Czech Republic, or Czechia, is a constitutionally secular state. Beneath the secular surface, however, there are a number of systemic privileges and special permissions granted to religious groups. According to the 2021 Census,1https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=vystup-objekt&pvo=SLD210092-KR&z=T&f=TABULKA&skupId=4294&katalog=33525&pvo=SLD210092-KR 48% of the population are non-religious. 22% of the population identify as religious, of which 59% […]

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. The Kingdom of Denmark encompasses Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. Constitution and government The Constitution1https://www.thedanishparliament.dk/-/media/pdf/publikationer/english/my_constitutional_act_with_explanations.ashx and other laws and policies protect freedom of religion or belief, as well as freedom of expression, association […]

Djibouti is a small country located on the horn of Africa and bordered by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. The Republic of Djibouti is a semi-presidential system in which legislative power is shared between the executive branch and parliament, the National Assembly.1https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/DJI#pos1 The President of Djibouti, Ismael Omar Guelleh, has been […]

Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is a parliamentary democracy located in the Caribbean. Dominica is the sole republic within the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).1https://www.oecs.org/en/who-we-are/member-states It gained independence from Britain in 1978, however many of its laws and institutions still remain under British colonial influence today. According to […]

A former Spanish colony, the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, a former French colony. Discrimination against Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian migrants is a significant problem in the country.1“Dominican Republic: IACHR urges the State to Eradicate Statelessness”, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 29 September 2023, […]

Ecuador is a presidential democracy with a Constitution that declares Ecuador to be secular. The people are a patchwork of indigenous communities, including people of colonial Spanish origins. Constitution and government Ecuador is among the countries showing the biggest fluctuations with regard to religiosity. In 2005, 85% of Ecuadorians declared […]

A nation of 107.8 million as of mid-2022. The religious affiliation breakdown is reported to be approximately 90 percent Sunni Muslim and 10 percent Christian. There is limited reliable data on the number of atheists in Egypt. In 2020, some local media outlets quoted estimates from a former Minister of […]

El Salvador – officially the Republic of El Salvador – is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. Between 1980-1992, the military-led government and left-wing guerillas waged a civil war that resulted in the deaths or disappearances of at least 75,000 citizens.1Amelia Hoover Green and Patrick […]

Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, Equatorial Guinea is the only African country where Spanish is an official language. The discovery of oil has made the country the second richest in Africa in per capita income.1”African countries with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in 2022″, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1121014/gdp-per-capita-of-african-countries/ […]

The State of Eritrea, a country in East Africa, is a one-man dictatorship under President Isaias Afewerki without a functioning legislature or independent judiciary.1United Nations General Assembly, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker”, A/HRC/53/20, 9 May 2023, https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5320-situation-human-rights-eritrea-report-special-rapporteur There has […]

Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia has developed a stable, functioning democracy. Political rights and civil liberties are widely respected as the country scores well on international measures of fundamental freedoms.1Estonia: Freedom in the World 2021 Country Report | Freedom House The population is estimated to be […]

The Kingdom of Eswatini (previously known as Swaziland)1https://www.dw.com/en/from-swaziland-to-eswatini-whats-in-a-name-change/a-45372631 is a landlocked country surrounded – with the exception of Mozambique to its East – by South Africa; it is the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa.2https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43821512 The population of Eswatini is estimated by the World Bank to be 1,160,1643https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=SZ and the […]

The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia stipulates that the country is secular, and guarantees the freedom of religion, belief and opinion and the right to freedom of expression.1https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/et/et007en.pdf About 43% of the population is Orthodox Christian, one third are Muslim, and approximately 22% of the population are […]

Since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1970, Fiji has suffered four military coups, with the last taking place in 2006. Although this political instability has complex causes, ethno-political divisions between the Indo-Fijian and indigenous Fijian communities are generally accepted as a major underlying factor. Historically these divisions have […]

The Republic of Finland is a Nordic country with a population of just less than 5.5 million people.  Finland was once part of Sweden and then the Russian Empire until it declared independence in 1917 in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. The country is a constitutional republic with a […]

In France, the dominant religion is Catholicism but the state is strongly secular. Freedom of religion or belief is supported but its importance is secondary to the freedom and rights of all citizens and public order and morality. France suffered two terrorist attacks in 2015: first in January against the […]

The Gabonese Republic is a presidential republic, with a population of around 1.5 million people. It gained independence from France in 1960, and has had only three presidents in the intervening years. However, a multi-party system under a democratic Constitution is now in place. Being petroleum-rich with a low population […]

Surrounded by Senegal, apart from a short strip of Atlantic coastline at its western end, Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa. As of July 2021, Gambia’s population encompasses about 2.2 million people, while according to 2013 data, 95.7% of this population identifies as Muslim, with 4.2% identifying as […]

A former Soviet republic which declared its independence in 1991, Georgia is today a representative democratic semi-presidential republic, lying at the intersection of Europe and Asia. The northern regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have declared independence from Georgia, though there is little international recognition for their independence, and Georgia […]

Germany, a federal parliamentary republic and a nation of 83.2 million, has a federal constitution and consists of 16 constituent states. Constitution and government The Constitution (Grundgesetz, the Basic Law) and other laws and policies both protect and respect freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as freedom of […]

Ghana is a West-African parliamentary democracy with a multi-party political system that is largely dominated by two parties — the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Ghana gained independence from Britain in 1957.1https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ghana/#government According to the latest census data (collected in 2010), approximately 71% of the […]

Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic on the edge of the Balkan Peninsula, often regarded as the birthplace of democracy in Europe and a catalyst to western civilisation. The country has seen steady economic, social and legal changes in recent years with leftist government attempts towards secularisation of the country. […]

Grenada is a country consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. After centuries of colonial rule under France and subsequently Britain, Grenada became a fully independent state in February 1974. Grenada is now a parliamentary democracy […]

Guatemala, with Mexico on its Northern boundary, is in a pivotal position in Central America. It was the scene of a 36-year guerrilla war until 1996, a peace agreement was signed by the government that finally put an end to the internal conflict. Guatemala is a predominantly Christian – primarily […]

Guinea is a former French colony in Western Africa, today it is a multi-party presidential republic following years of one-party control and military coups. It is ruled by President Alpha Condé, contentiously re-elected for a third mandate in 2020. An estimated 85% of the country’s 12.5 million population is estimated to […]

Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony in West Africa which has a multi-party presidential republic.1https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guinea-bissau/ The population is estimated to be 1.9 million as of 2020.2https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guinea-bissau/ The country has been experiencing political instability in the last decade,3https://freedomhouse.org/country/guinea-bissau/freedom-world/2021; https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guinea-bissau/ but civil liberties have gradually improved since the military coup in 2012.4https://freedomhouse.org/country/guinea-bissau/freedom-world/2021 […]

The Co-operative Republic of Guyana is a sovereign state on the Caribbean coast of South America. A former Dutch, and subsequently British colony, Guyana gained independence in 1966. At the time of writing, data pertaining to the 2022 census had not yet been published. As of 2012, 64% of the […]

A multi-party, semi-presidential republic, the island of Haiti gained independence in 1804, making it the first modern independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean. Haiti is predominantly a Christian country, with the largest denomination being Roman Catholicism. Many Haitians (regardless of religious affiliation) also hold spiritual beliefs deriving from […]

The Republic of Honduras, historical home to Mesoamerican cultures including the Maya, was conquered by Spain in the sixteenth century who imported Roman Catholicism which has been predominant culturally ever since. Honduras’ multi-party system has been turbulent and wracked with controversy. A long history of military rule, corruption and crime has […]

Hungary is often said to be pulled culturally, socially and politically between “East” and “West.” Hungary’s modern constitutional parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1989, following a long history of varying authoritarian regimes including 40 years of communist dictatorship. In the first 20 years, democratic institutions were set up and improved […]

Located in the North Atlantic, Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. It is a multi-party parliamentary democracy. Constitution and government The Constitution1https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Iceland_2013.pdf?lang=en and other laws and policies protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as freedom of expression, assembly and association. However, Article 62 of […]

India is the world’s most populous democracy, religiously pluralistic, and for many years, in the main, proud of its secular Constitution. According to the most recent census data available (2011), 79.8% of the population are Hindu, 14.2% are Muslim, 2.3% are Christian, 1.7% are Sikh, a further 2% belong to […]

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, has in the past had a relatively good reputation for plural religious identity united under a monotheistic state ideology, however, this reputation was largely in decline during the term (2004-2014) of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (“SBY”). Under president Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”), elected 2014, there was […]

Iran is the second largest nation in the Middle East. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and […]

Iraq holds immense historical and geopolitical significance. Bordered by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Kuwait, it has been a focal point of events not only in the region but also on the global stage. Iraq is a member of the League of Arab States (LAS), as well as […]

Ireland is a Republic of about 4.9 million people. It covers about five-sixths of the geographical island of Ireland. In 1922 it achieved de facto independence from the UK, and became the mostly-Catholic Irish Free State. The rest of the island remained within the UK, and became the mostly-Protestant Northern […]

Israel has a population of around 8.7 million people. Those identifying as Jews represent an estimated 75% of the population, while 17.8% identify as Muslims. Smaller religious minorities are Druze (1.6%), Christians (2%), Baha’is, Samaritans, Karaites and Jehovah’s Witnesses.1https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/israel-population Established as a homeland for the Jewish people in 1948, Israel’s […]

A limb of southern Europe stretching out into the Mediterranean, Italy is a nation whose Roman past penetrates deeply into European cultural history, and whose Renaissance prefigured the modern humanist movement. Despite this, the Catholic Church remains a predominant force in the country today. According to a 2021 study by […]

Jamaica is a small island nation in the Caribbean of around 2.8 million people. Where once 98% of the population ascribed to a Christian denomination, this figure has now reduced to 60% of the population is Christian. There are significant populations of religious minorities, most notably Rastafarians.1https://www.visitjamaica.com/feel-the-vibe/people/faith/ Those who identify […]

Japan is an island nation of 126 million inhabitants, located in the Pacific Ocean, east of China. It is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy and a major economic power. At least 69% of the population is reported to practice Shintoism and/or Buddhism. A further 1.5% of the population are Christian.1https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/japan/#people-and-society Constitution and […]

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy in western Asia with a total population of approximately 11,148 million.1World Bank data 2021, https://data.worldbank.org/country/JO (Last checked 25,04,2023). More than 90% of citizens are Sunni Muslims and there are small communities of Christians – predominantly Greek Orthodox […]

The Republic of Kazakhstan is the largest state in Central Asia with a small portion extending into Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is a unitary state with the president at its helm holding significant executive power, which includes appointing key government officials and guiding national policies.1Official website of the President of the […]

The Republic of Kenya is situated between Somalia and Uganda. The population is largely Christian (85.5%), with a large Muslim minority (10.9%), with other religious minorities making up the rest of the population.1https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html Kenya is home to more than 498,000 refugees, the majority of whom come from neighbouring Somalia.2https://www.unhcr.org/ke/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Kenya-Infographics-31-August-2020.pdf; https://www.unhcr.org/ke/figures-at-a-glance […]

Kiribati (officially pronounced Kiribas) is a presidential republic, which gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1979 and joined the United Nations as a full member in 1999. The majority of the population live on the largest island, Tarawa. According to its 2020 census,1https://pacificdata.org/data/dataset/spc_kir_2020_phc_v01_m/resource/dd60866e-258d-4043-ae86-4862e8ba2cc9?inner_span=True approximately 98% of the population is […]

The Republic of Korea (“South Korea”) generally protects and, in practice, respects freedom of religion, but there remain some religious privileges in place that are unavailable to the non-religious. In addition, conscientious objectors continue to be incarcerated by the government and “non-ethnic” Koreans face discrimination. Constitution and government There is […]

Kosovo is a multi-party democratic republic bordered by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. Kosovo became a UN protectorate following the Kosovo War of 1999 with prolonged tensions and violence between its Albanian and Serb populations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Serbia continues to […]

Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliamentary system. When taken in comparison with other countries in its region, Kuwait generally ranks well in terms of civil liberties, press freedom and judicial independence. Nevertheless, the past few years have seen a notable crack-down on freedom of expression in the […]

For 75 years under the Soviet system, the Kyrgyz Republic was officially a secular state. Experiencing ethnic tensions, political and economic woes since independence, Kyrgyzstan is a parliamentary republic. The population of Kyrgyzstan is estimated at 6.6 million as of 2021.1National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic – Statistics of […]

Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a landlocked country, bordering Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China. The state gained independence from France in 1953 and is one of the few remaining one-party socialist states with a fast-growing economy1https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/la.html. However, it is estimated that a third of the country’s 6.5 million people live below […]

Latvia is a parliamentary republic, and member of the European Union, with close likes to Estonia and Lithuania.  It has a substantial Russian-speaking population. It has a population of 1.9 million, 31% of whom are unaffiliated with any religious group. The largest religious group, estimated to account for 37% of […]

The Lebanese Republic has a population of 6.8 million people,1https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=LB. Lebanon is host to a large refugee population including 1.5 million Syrians, and 200,000 Palestinians.2https://reliefweb.int/report/lebanon/unhcr-lebanon-factsheet-january-2020#:~:text=More%20than%20eight%20years%20into,are%20present%20in%20the%20country. The country’s history has been marked by sectarian tensions between its numerous and diverse ethnic and religious groups which came to a head in the Lebanese […]

Completely enclosed within South Africa, but separated from it by its mountain ranges, the Kingdom of Lesotho is a small democracy, with a population of around 2 million.1https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/lesotho-population/ Since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1966, Lesotho has seen decades of poverty, economic crises and unstable politics.2https://www.britannica.com/place/Lesotho/Religion The majority of the […]

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is located on the West African coast, most of the country is covered by dense tropical forests. Liberia was the only colony founded by the United States of America, and the Liberian flag is influenced by this inheritance. A military coup in 1980 led […]

Libya is a North African country of an estimated 6.9 million inhabitants, of which 90-95% are Sunni Muslims.1https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/libya/ The Amazigh ethnic minority counts some Ibadi Muslims and there are small Christian communities among sub-Saharan African and Egyptian migrants. Libya is the fourth largest African country by area and holds the […]

Liechtenstein is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament, landlocked between Switzerland and Austria. The estimated population is 38,200 in 2021.1https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/liechtenstein-population/#:~:text=The%20current%20population%20of%20Liechtenstein,of%20the%20total%20world%20population According to the 2015 census, 73.4% of the population of Liechtenstein is Catholic, 6.3% is Protestant and 5.9% is Muslim.2state.gov/documents/organization/281170.pdf World Atlas records in 2019 report that the religious […]

Lithuania, a country in north-eastern Europe, is a parliamentary representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. In March 1990, it declared independence from the Soviet Union.1https://www.britannica.com/place/Lithuania/Independence-restored The country is a member of the EU, and NATO. According to a population census conducted in 2011, the majority (77%) of the population […]

Luxembourg has no state religion, although the dominant religion is Roman Catholicism. The Constitution allows freedom of religious belief and practice in general, but grants privileges to certain religious groups. Constitution and government The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and generally respects this right in practice. There is no […]

A former French colony, Madagascar, a country with a population of about 28 million, is a religiously pluralistic country.1https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=MG According to the most recent national census, in 1993, 52% of the population are adherents of indigenous religions and Christians make up 41% of the population. 7% of the population are […]

Malawi is a landlocked state in southern central Africa, a former British colony, with an estimated population of 17.5 million people, from several tribal groupings.1https://malawi.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/2018%20Malawi%20Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%20Main%20Report%20%281%29.pdf Constitutionally, it has been a multi-party democracy since 1994. According to the 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census, 67.4% of the population identify as Christian, […]

Malaysia is a federal, multi-territory constitutional monarchy, split across two land masses: Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. There is a degree of freedom of religion or belief among the significant non-Muslim religious minorities including Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. However, rising attention on the small number (~1%) prepared to identify as […]

Though most famous internationally as a popular tourist destination, the Maldives has been described as undergoing a battle between liberal and literal interpretations of Islam, with serious human rights violations linked to fundamentalists, and attacks on perceived atheists and homosexuals in recent years. Constitution and government There is no formal […]

The Republic of Mali is a large landlocked state in west Africa with a population of approximately 22.4 million.1Institut National de la Statistique, accessed January 2025 https://www.instat-mali.org/laravel-filemanager/files/shares/rgph/rapport-resultats-globaux-rgph5_rgph.pdf  According to the latest estimations, 94.8% of the population are Muslim (nearly all Sunni), 2.4% Christian and 2% Animistic. 0.45% of the population declare […]

Malta is a small, densely-populated, nation in the Mediterranean, south of Sicily and north of Libya. It gained independence from the UK in 1964 and became a parliamentary republic in 1974. An estimated 544,000 people live on the three islands that make up the archipelago.1“Malta Population”, Worldometer, accessed March 2025 […]

Located in the Pacific ocean and officially renamed in 1982 the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is an independent island nation (70 sq. miles of land spread out over 750,000 sq. miles of ocean) that is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. Micronesian colonists occupied the islands […]

Mauritania bridges the Arab Maghreb and western sub-Saharan Africa. Mauritanian society is rigidly caste-based. The Beidane, who are of Arab-Berber origin, are politically and socially dominant, while the Haratine remain the most economically and politically marginalized group1https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/mauritania/session_23_-_november_2015/unpo_upr23_mrt_e_main.pdf. Many Haratine in Mauritania are enslaved, and those who are free face discrimination […]

A small volcanic, island nation in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is a former British Colony that obtained independence in 1968. In 1991, when the country became a Republic, a President designated by the National Assembly replaced the Governor General, who had previously represented the Queen of the United Kingdom, the […]

Mexico, a federal republic with a population of 126 million inhabitants, is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. According to the 2020 census, approximately 78% of the population identify as Roman Catholic, a further 11% as Protestant or Evangelical Christian, and 0.2% as belonging to other religions, including Judaism, […]

The Federated States of Micronesia is a nation located in the western Pacific Ocean and made up of more than 600 individual islands which are ruled by a parliamentary republic without established political parties. A high percentage of the population is religious, with a majority declaring themselves to be Christian.1https://countryeconomy.com/demography/religions/micronesia […]

With a population of just over four million, Moldova is a parliamentary republic nestled between Romania and Ukraine. Constitution and government According to the Constitution, there is no State religion in Moldova. Article 10 of the Constitution provides for equal treatment for all citizens regardless of religion, and Article 31 […]

Monaco, officially known as Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state located along the Mediterranean French Riviera. The city of Nice in France lies 9 miles (15 km) to the West, and the Italian border 5 miles (8 km) to the East. With an area of 2.1 km (0.81 sq […]

Mongolia is a country in East Asia, bordered by Russia and China. In 1990, Mongolia abandoned its 70-year-old Soviet-style one-party state and embraced constitutional, political and economic reforms. In 1992, the first elected government of Mongolia adopted a new Constitution, cementing its aspiration to become an independent, democratic country with […]

Montenegro is – in terms of both its size and population – one of the smallest European states. After the collapse of the Yugoslav federation in 1989,1https://history.state.gov/countries/montenegro Montenegro remained a part of a smaller Federal Republic of Yugoslavia but voted in a referendum of 1992 in favour of federation with […]

Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country with over 33 million inhabitants, of which 99% are identified as Sunni Muslims, with a small number of Christians, Jews, Shiites, and Baha’is. Judaism is privileged over other religious minorities. Morocco is separated by only 14 km from its northern neighbour, […]

The Republic of Mozambique, which gained independence from Portugal in 1975, continues to suffer from the effects of a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992. The country held its first multi-party democratic elections in 1994.1https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13890416; https://www.britannica.com/place/Mozambique/Peace-in-Mozambique#ref343969 Situated on the southeast of the African continent, its neighbors are Tanzania, Malawi, […]

The country was officially renamed Myanmar by the military regime in 1989, though this remains controversial with many ethnic minorities and activist groups that use its former name of Burma. A gradual democratization process led the civilian National League for Democracy and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi to victory […]

The Republic of Namibia is a democratic and secular sovereign state with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Approximately 80% are reportedly Christian, with the remaining 10-20% holding traditional indigenous beliefs while a small minority of around 1-3% are said to be Muslim.1https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html The country gained independence from South Africa […]

Nauru is an island republic with a unicameral parliament and no political parties, with politicians usually standing on independent platforms. With a population of around 11,500, the island is the smallest republic in the world.1https://pacificdata.org/data/dataset/spc_nru_2019_phc_v01_m According to the most recent full census (2011), the Nauruan population is predominantly Christian (95%). […]

Prior to a civil war between Maoist rebels and the government in 2006, the country was officially a Hindu state. In 2008, Nepal became a secular democratic republic. The new Constitution as of 2015 retains “secularism” but places restrictions on freedom of religion or belief. The Nepali population is composed […]

The Netherlands is a democratic, constitutional monarchy in Western Europe, generally recognised as a liberal country that formally has an even-handed policy towards religious and non-religious views. As of 2017, the largest belief group in the Netherlands were the non-religious, accounting for 50.7% of the population; a further 24% identified […]

New Zealand consists of two main islands and other outlying smaller islands. It has a population of approximately 5 million (as estimated in March 2020) and has a democratic, parliamentary government. The larger Realm of New Zealand includes the democratic self-governing Associated States: the Cook Islands, population approximately 17,500 (2016 […]

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America by area, but its population density is relatively low. Nicaragua was first settled by the Spanish in 1522; it gained independence in 1838. It is majority Catholic (approximately 58.5%), however there is a growing evangelical Protestant population, representing 22.6% of the population […]

Niger, is a landlocked country found in West Africa, which became independent from France in 1960. It is a unitary semi presidential republic. It provides minimal government services, and is often debilitated by droughts. Niger has now ranked 189 out of 189 countries for the third time consecutively in the […]

Located on the west coast of Africa, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is characterized by its diverse ethnic groups. According to last available estimates (2015), approximately half of the population are Muslims, about 48% are Christians, and approximately 2% do not belong to a religious group. Many individuals are reported […]

The so-called “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” or “DPRK” is often recognized as the world’s most isolated state;1https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/09/media-statement-un-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-democratic-peoples a fascistic, total suppressor of basic human rights and freedoms, subverting all social, civic and political life to the maintenance of pervasive (but ultimately fragile) illusions of grandeur.2https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/north-korea In 2014, a UN […]

Lying in the center of the Balkan Peninsula, the Republic of North Macedonia is a parliamentary democracy,1https://www.iri.org/iri-around-the-world/europe/north-macedonia/ and an independent state since 1991 (previously part of Yugoslavia). The country has a multi-party democratic system, and is officially a secular state. Experiencing a name change after a parliamentary vote in 2019, […]

Norway is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy of about 5.4 million inhabitants, bordering its Nordic neighbors Sweden and Finland, as well as Russia. Norway is rated as having the second highest Human Development Index (HDI) in the world, according to the most recent data published in 2023.1https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/country-insights#/ranks Constitution and government Freedom […]

The Sultanate of Oman is an absolute monarchy with a population of 4.5 million people as of 2021,1https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=OM of which only 56-60% are citizens.2https://www.indexmundi.com/oman/demographics_profile.html; https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1123717/oman/omanis-constitute-5960-of-total-population 45% of citizens are Sunni Muslims and another 45% are Ibadi Muslims,3https://www.indexmundi.com/oman/religions.html; https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/oman/#people-and-society a branch distinct from both Shia and Sunni Islam. Approximately 5% of […]

The population of Pakistan is approximately 96% Sunni and Shia Muslim; the remaining 4% is made up of Christians, Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others.1https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/pakistan/; https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/#people-and-society The country has suffered chronic sectarian violence against religious and non-religious minorities, with Shia Muslims subjected to the majority of the violence,2https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/pakistan/ and many […]

Palau, part of a former United Nations Trust territory, became independent in 1994. A population of 20,600 people inhabit an archipelago of volcanic and coral islands. According to the 2020 Census,1https://www.palaugov.pw/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2020-Census-of-Population-and-Housing.pdf the nation is predominantly Christian: 47% of whom are Catholic; 25% Evangelical; 5% Seventh Day Adventist. In addition to […]

Palestine has a tumultuous history and disputed territorial boundaries. The region holds a population of approximately 4 million, of which the vast majority are Sunni Muslim. There are small communities of Christians and Jews. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict religion and ethnicity are often closely linked. Constitution and government Freedom of […]

Panama is situated on the isthmus connecting Central America and South America. The country obtained its independence from Spain in 1821 and from Colombia in 1903. Panama is a unitary state and a presidential representative democratic republic. It has an elected two-chamber Congress and an elected president acting as head […]

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The country was divided between Germany and the UK in 1885 and became independent in 1976.1https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/u/new-flags-flying/nff-png/about-png#:~:text=Papua%20and%20New%20Guinea%20used,the%20southern%20regions%20%27Papua%27. PNG has a functioning democracy. Elections are regularly held despite some irregularities and violence. The judiciary enjoys independence, […]

Paraguay is a presidential republic with a population of 7 million that borders Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.1https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=PY It is also home to 19 indigenous communities.2https://www.iwgia.org/en/paraguay.html According to the most recent census to capture the religious demography of the country (2002), 89% of the population is Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant, 3% […]

Peru is a country in South America, which obtained its independence from Spain in 1821. Peru is a unitary state and a presidential representative democratic republic. It has an elected two-chamber Congress and an elected president acting as head of state. According to the 2017 census, Peru has a population […]

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands, of which seven host the majority of the 109 million population, the second largest population of countries in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).1https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/philippines-demographics/ Spanish and US influences remain strong, especially in terms of religion (mainly Roman Catholic) and government. Nominally […]

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest religious organization in Poland and maintains considerable influence in social and political life. In 1993, it was granted special recognition by the Polish state as per a Concordat with the Holy See. Recent developments have seen new propositions by the government to impose […]

Portugal, located on the south-western edge of the European continent, became a republic in 1910, but was soon controlled by an authoritarian one-party regime for almost half a century. Democracy returned to the country in 1974 and a new Constitution was adopted two years later.1“Diplomatic Portal”, Permanent Mission of Portugal […]

Qatar is an oil-rich nation on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It has been ruled by an absolute monarch (the Emir) since its independence in 1971.1”A Guide to the United States’ History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Qatar”, Office of the Historian, US […]

Romania is a semi-presidential republic with a multi-party system, a member of the EU and NATO. The law forbids public authorities from asking individuals to specify their religion, except for the census. According to the 2021 census,1https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/cp-date-provizorii-rpl2021_0.pdf 16.3 million of the country’s 19 million population chose to answer questions on […]

The Russian Federation is the world’s largest country by land area. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has struggled to maintain its commitments to human rights conventions and its Constitution. The Russian Federation is a multi-religious nation, with roughly 71% of the population identifying as Orthodox […]

The Republic of Rwanda is a small country in Central East Africa bordering Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s mainly rural population is over 12 million giving the country the highest population density on mainland Africa.1https://data.worldbank.org/country/RW Rwanda’s recent history is dominated by Hutu/Tutsi ethnic tensions […]

Saint Kitts and Nevis, also known as The Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is a two-island nation in the Caribbean which maintains a multi-party parliamentary democracy political system under a constitutional monarchy. According to the most recently available census (2011), 83% of the 47,000 population identified as Christian, the […]

Saint Lucia is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea which maintains a multi-party parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. A former French and, subsequently, British colony, Saint Lucia remains a member of the Commonwealth, and a member state of the Organization of American States. Just over 90% of […]

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is an island in the Lesser Antilles Island arc. The territory of the island consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the two-thirds of the Grenadines, which are a chain of smaller islands. SVG is a member of the Commonwealth. Its ceremonial […]

Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa, is a very small Oceanianic country of about 200,000 thousand inhabitants. It maintains a single-party parliamentary democracy, in principle. However, only the matai (clan chiefs, or heads of extended families) are eligible to run as candidates.1https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SAMOA-2020-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf Constitution and government The Constitution2https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/44021/124322/F-82949215/WSM44021.pdf protects the […]

San Marino is a microstate encircled by Italy. Whilst the government does not collect statistics on religious demographics, the authorities report that the vast majority of the population is Roman Catholic. Other religious groups are reported to include, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baha’is, Muslims, Jews, Orthodox Christians, and members of the Waldensian […]

In the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa, the nation is a former Portuguese colony comprising two islands and several islets, which gained independence in 1975. There are around 220,372 inhabitants of São Tomé and Príncipe. It is estimated that 56% are Catholics, 12% are […]

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state governed by an absolute monarchy in tandem with a powerful religious elite. Laws, society, and politics are based on tribal traditions, religion, and the Wahhabi interpretation of Sharia.1The Federal Government’s Second Report on the Global Status of Freedom of Religion (auswaertiges-amt.de) […]

A constitutionally secular state, Senegal gained independence from France in 1960. French remains the official language. The population of 16 million is estimated to be 96% Muslim, located mostly in the North of the country. The majority of Muslims are Sunni but belong to different Sufi brotherhoods, some of which […]

Serbia is a land-locked country located in the west-central Balkans. In 2006, Serbia became a stand-alone sovereign republic, marking the final separation of the six states that had previously made up the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. Serbia has never recognized Kosovo’s independence […]

The Republic of Seychelles, an archipelago off the east coast of Africa, has the smallest population of any African nation. Recent census data has not recorded the religious demography of the country.1https://www.nbs.gov.sc/downloads/36-data-acquisition-census/16-population-and-vital-statistics At the time of last documentation (2010), it was estimated that 76% of the population was Roman Catholic, […]

Predominantly Sunni Muslim (77%), with an influential Christian minority (22%), Sierra Leone’s religious practices tend to be syncretic and mixed with traditional belief.1https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/sierra-leone/ Constitution and government The Constitution2https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Sierra_Leone_2008 and other laws and policies protect freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association. Article 24(1) […]

Singapore is a city-state of 5.7 million inhabitants.1https://www.singstat.gov.sg/modules/infographics/population Known for its rich cultural diversity, the island nation is considered to be among the most religiously diverse nation in the world.2https://www.pewforum.org/2014/04/04/global-religious-diversity/ Singapore became an independent and sovereign state in 1965, after leaving the Federation of Malaysia, of which it had been a […]

Slovakia is a democratic republic with a multi-party parliamentary system. After the 1989 collapse of Communism, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 meant that Slovakia became an independent state. It is now a member of the EU and NATO. The population of around 5.4 million people is predominantly Catholic. Just […]

Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy located on the Adriatic Sea, a member of the European Union and Nato. Prior to 1991, Slovenia was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – which included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – and was under communist rule for […]

Solomon Islands is an archipelago comprising 997 islands and atolls located in the Melanesian region of the Pacific. The island group covers a land area of 28,230 km2, with six larger islands: Guadalcanal; Choiseul; Santa Isabel; New Georgia; Malaita; and Makira.1http://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/solomon-islands It is a Constitutional Monarchy governed under a multiparty […]

Somalia has lacked an effective central government for decades. The ousting of President Siad Barre in 1991 precipitated a decades-long civil war between rival factions and the disintegration of central authority, which the terrorist group Al-Shabaab was able to make significant territorial gains. Al-Shabaab imposes a strict version of Sharia […]

Officially known as the Republic of South Africa (RSA), this multiethnic country is situated at the southernmost tip of Africa. South Africa is a secular democracy which encompasses a wide variety of cultures, languages and religions, the majority-religion being Christianity. Race remains a huge source of social tension in post-Apartheid […]

South Sudan remains in a state of transition since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011. It has no state religion, and humanist advocates appear to have some presence in the country. However, despite vocal commitments to religious tolerance by political leaders, escalating inter-ethnic and inter-religious violence between Muslims and Christians […]

Spain is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament. Its modern history has been marked by the 1936-39 civil war followed by a long period of dictatorship under General Franco until his death in 1975. The country subsequently transitioned to democracy and became part of the European Union in 1986.1“Spain […]

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country of just over 20 million people occupying an island in the northern Indian Ocean.  Formerly part of the British Empire, “Ceylon” attained independence in 1948, and became a republic in 1972. According to the 2012 census, the Sinhalese make up […]

Sudan, once the largest country in Africa, has long suffered from severe ethnic strife and been plagued by internal conflict. The country became independent of British-Egyptian rule in 1956 but wars between the predominantly Christian and Animist south against the predominantly Muslim north eventually led to independence for South Sudan […]

Suriname, officially known as the Republic of Suriname, is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America.1https://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_212_1.asp It is bordered by French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west and Brazil to the south.2https://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_212_1.asp Suriname was colonized by the English and the Dutch in the 17th century. […]

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Sweden is a member of the EU and the UN but has declined NATO membership. The country has a social welfare system providing education and health care to all its citizens and ranks very highly on the UN Human Development Report. […]

The Constitution of Switzerland and other laws and policies both protect and respect religious freedom in practice. However, some discrimination based on religious identity, belief, or practice have been reported. According to national statistics, almost 37% of Swiss nationals are Roman Catholic; the Reformed Evangelical community makes up a further 24.4%. […]

The Syrian Arab Republic is a multi-ethnic nation (predominantly Arabs, Kurds, Circassians, Chechens, and Turkomans), which was around 75% Sunni, 10% Shia, and the remainder mainly a mix of other Muslim, Christian and other religious groups.1https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/syria-population Many of these groups have been disrupted and displaced in conflict in recent years. […]

The independence and sovereign limits of Taiwan are disputed. The People’s Republic of China insists that there is one unified China, including Taiwan, however Taiwan claims independence as a separate state. This tension means that Taiwan is only considered a separate state by 25 countries internationally. Owing to the refusal […]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan plunged into civil war, which ended in 1997. In spite of some developments and laws passed on domestic violence and agreeing on an International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which eliminated the death penalty, the current government which, now in its […]

Established as a United Republic in 1964 following decades of colonial occupation, Tanzania is formed from mainland Tanzania (formerly known as Taganyika) and Zanzibar, and boasts an estimated population of more than 58 million inhabitants – among them up to 130 unrecognized indigenous ethnic groups.1https://www.iwgia.org/en/tanzania.html As of 2010, an estimated […]

Thailand is a country which is very rich in its diversity. Once governed by an absolute monarchy (Chakri Dynasty), it is now a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch is viewed as a living god. The nation’s democracy has been punctuated by at least 12 successful coups d’état since 1932.1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/05/20/thailands-army-says-this-definitely-isnt-a-coup-heres-11-times-it-definitely-was/; https://www.ft.com/content/88970d60-e1b0-11e3-9999-00144feabdc0 […]

Timor-Leste is a democratic sovereign state in southeast Asia with a population of approximately 1.1 million, of which it is estimated that 97.6% are Catholic (Catholicism was introduced to the country a result of Portuguese colonisation), 1% are Protestant and 0.2% are Muslim. For many East Timorese, animistic traditions coexist […]

Bordering Ghana and Benin, Togo is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Of its 8 million population, the majority are estimated to be Christian (43%), with a large proportion following traditional animist religions (35%), and a further 14% Sunni Muslims. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion among […]

Tonga is a Constitutional monarchy, however, in a partial democratization of the system, a Prime Minister backed by a parliament was appointed in 2010.1https://freedomhouse.org/country/tonga/freedom-world/2021 Tonga is an archipelago, spanning 800 kilometers and made up of 176 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The population is estimated to be 106,000 as of […]

Located in the Caribbean, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago – comprising the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as several small islands – is a parliamentary democracy that declared its independence from Britain in 1962. It is one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean, due to its large […]

Tunisia has a population of 11.8 Million, of which approximately 99% are Sunni Muslims. The remaining 1% comprises of small Christian, Jewish, Shiite and Baha’i communities. In 2011, Tunisia set in motion the transnational pro-democracy uprising known as the ‘Arab Spring’ when a young vegetable vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself […]

With its historical metropolis, Istanbul, being the only city in the world said to be straddling Asia and Europe, Turkey has long been pulled ideologically in divergent directions. Turkey counts a population of 82 million people, 99% of whom are nominally Muslim (predominantly Sunni, with a substantial minority of Alevi). […]

Turkmenistan is a former Soviet state in Central Asia. Since its independence in 1991, Turkmenistan has been ruled by two repressive authoritarian rulers who rose to power during the communist era. The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT) is the only registered political party in the country.1https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/e/23722.pdf Since 2013, the government […]

Tuvalu is a parliamentary democracy located midway between Hawaii and Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Tuvalu are no more than fifteen feet above sea level, and the islands are often the victim of cyclones. Rising sea levels also threaten the nation.1https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/will-tuvalu-disappear-beneath-the-sea-180940704/ As of 2020, Tuvalu’s population was […]

Uganda, located on the north and north-western shores of Lake Victoria, is a predominantly Christian country, with a significant Muslim minority (primarily Sunni), and a president, Yoweri Museveni, of some 34 years standing. The Christian population is divided between protestant denominations and Roman Catholics, accounting for 45% and 39% of […]

Ukraine became a fully independent sovereign state in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. By area i tis the largest country entirely within Europe, and has a population of around 41 million.1https://index.minfin.com.ua/ua/reference/people/ The majority of Ukrainians consider themselves believers (61.7%), 2.5% are atheists, the number of non-believers slightly […]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven states formed in 1971. It is governed by a Supreme Council of Rulers made up of the seven emirs, who appoint the prime minister and the cabinet. Islam is the country’s official religion. The UAE is a member of the […]

The United Kingdom (UK) is a constitutional monarchy comprising Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, with a total population of about 64 million people. England with the largest population, 53 million, is home to a bi-cameral UK parliament which has devolved a range of powers to the […]

The United States of America is a large country of around 327 million people, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. Since the end of World War II, the US has been widely considered the most powerful nation on Earth and remains very influential globally in […]

The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is the second smallest nation on the South American continent, bordering Brazil and Argentina. Its mostly urban population centers around the capital, Montevideo. The precise religious demography of the 3.4 million population is not measured in national censuses.1“Población preliminar: 3.444.263 habitantes”, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, […]

In 1991, Uzbekistan emerged as a sovereign country after more than a century of Russian rule. A former Communist, Islam Karimov, emerged as President. He ruled the country as dictator until his death in 2016, during which time he exercised a ruthlessly authoritarian approach to all forms of opposition, using […]

Vanuatu is a small island state in the South Pacific made up of a string of at least 80 islands with an estimated population of 318,007.1“Vanuatu”, The World Factbook, CIA, last updated 25 November 2024 https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/vanuatu/ Formerly known as the New Hebrides, it was under joint British and French administration […]

The majority of Venezuelans are Catholic, who coexist with Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, and indigenous populations.1https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/venezuelan-culture/venezuelan-culture-religion There has been much tension between the government and Catholic officials and the Jewish community. Freedom of expression, assembly and association have been restricted. Since 2017, Venezuela has been undergoing a severe social, economic and […]

The Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) is the sole political party within the country. Ruling the country for almost 50 years, the CPV severely punishes anyone who seeks to undermine its monopoly on power. Under the CPV, there has been a history of systematic denial, in practice, of rights […]

Islam is the official state religion of Yemen and the Constitution states that Islamic law is the source of all legislation.1”Yemen: Constitution, Refworld, 10 February 2021, https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/3fc4c1e94.pdf Freedoms of religion, speech and the press are all severely restricted. Yemen has been devastated since March 2015 in a war between Houthi […]

The Republic of Zambia, a landlocked state in south central Africa has a population of 19.6 million people, as of the 2022 Census.1https://www.zamstats.gov.zm/2022-census/reports/ According to 2010 census data,2Although the 2022 census did ask about religious affiliation, available reports do not provide such data. more than 90% of the population is […]

The Republic of Zimbabwe is an entirely landlocked sovereign state in southern Africa, with a population of approximately 14.6 million.1https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=ZW Zimbabwe is declared a secular state, but the government is strongly influenced by Christianity. Since acquiring its independence in 1980, the state has been dominated by the liberation party, ZANU-PF […]