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Restrictions on religion in the world’s 25 most populous places, 2022 - adtechsolutions

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Restrictions on religion in the world’s 25 most populous places, 2022


This chapter examines government restrictions and social hostilities in the world’s 25 most populous countries. Looking separately at these populous countries—home to about three-quarters of the world’s population—allows us to see how government restrictions and social hostilities affect a large portion of the world’s population.

Although each country has a national score on the Government Constraints Index (GRI) and the Social Hostility Index (SHI), it is important to note that the constraints measured by these indices do not affect all residents of a country equally. For example, restrictions may often target minority groups more than majority groups.

In 2022, among the 25 most populous countries, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Iran and Nigeria had highest overall levels of restrictions (meaning, the combined results of state restrictions and social hostility to the country). Japan, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had lowest overall restriction levels among these countries.

Government Restrictions Index (GRI)

China, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia and Russia had the highest levels of government restrictions among the most populous countries, with all five scoring in the “very high” GRI category. Japan, South Africa, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Kingdom had the lowest levels of government restrictions among this set of countries. Japan and South Africa were in the “low” category on the GRI, while the other three countries were in the “moderate” range.

Social Hostility Index (SHI)

In 2022, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh had the highest levels of social hostility among the 25 most populous countries. All these countries had “very high” SHI scores except Bangladesh (which had a “high” score). Meanwhile, China, Japan, the US, South Africa and Vietnam had the lowest SHI scores. South Africa and Vietnam were in the “moderate” SHI category, while the other three countries were in the “low” range.

In seven of those 25 countries, the GRI and SHI results fall into exactly the same categories. For example, Egypt had “very high” scores both GRI and SHI; Bangladesh had “high” levels of both government restrictions and social hostilities; and the Democratic Republic of Congo had “moderate” scores on both indices.

At the same time, several of the 25 most populous countries had “high” GRI scores but “moderate” or “low” SHI scores. China, for example, had “very high” levels of government restrictions but “low” levels of social hostilities in 2022, as in the previous year. Vietnam and Turkey had “very high” levels of government restrictions in 2022 (both up from “high” GRI scores in 2021) and “moderate” levels of social hostilities. In 2022, Russia had a “very high” GRI score, but a “moderate” level of social hostility. For more information on how the GRI and SHI scores compare to other countries, see this report Review.

How GRI scores have changed from 2021 to 2022

The most populous countries had little change (i.e., less than 1.0 points) in their GRI scores in 2022. Only the Democratic Republic of the Congo had a modest increase (i.e., from 1.0 to 1.9 points) in their GRI scores, which have moved the country from the “low” category to the “moderate” range of the GRI. None of the world’s 25 most populous countries had a large change (ie, 2.0 points or more) on the index.

However, even small changes in the index pushed some countries into different categories. For example, the GRI score for the Philippines rose from 2.2 to 2.9, moving it from a “low” to a “moderate” level. The small increase was partly due to reports that the Philippine government sought to arrest more religious people who were considered a threat. For example, in August 2022, authorities issued an arrest warrant for 16 members of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines for sending funds to the armed wing of the country’s Communist Party. It was unclear whether the allegations were legitimate, according to the US State Department, which reported that the government had engaged in a practice – known as “red tagging” – of publicly linking government critics to insurgent, terrorist or separatist groups in an effort to discredit them.

How SHI results have changed from 2021 to 2022

In 2022, most of the world’s 25 most populous countries had little change in their SHI scores. Five countries had modest changes, and one country – Iran – had a large increase in social hostilities.

Italy had a small change in its SHI score, from 3.1 to 3.7, enough to move from the “moderate” to the “high” category. New reports of recruitment into religious terrorist groups within the country contributed in part to this. In June, A married couple in Italy has been arrested for planning an attack “on behalf” of the militant group ISISstates the US State Department. The pair were reported to have been “radicalized for online violence” and were accused of “recruitment, association and training for the purpose of terrorism”.

Iran’s SHI score rose from 2.8 to 5.6 in 2022, moving it from the “moderate” to the “high” SHI category. For more information on the incidents that led to the SHI change in Iran and other countries that had major changes (beyond the 25 most populous), go to Chapter 1.

Chart showing religious restrictions in the 25 most populous countries in the world



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