WASHINGTON, April 18, 2012 (AFP) – The Philippines leads the world in the number of people who believe in God, while the elderly across all countries tend to be the most religious, according to a US study out Wednesday.
Belief in God tends to be strongest in the United States and Catholic countries and lowest in Scandinavia and former Soviet states, according to the survey carried out by the NORC research group at the University of Chicago.
The study was based on data from 30 countries — nearly all with Christian majorities — in which surveys about belief in God have been taken since 1991.
It found that 94 percent of people in the Philippines said they had always believed in God, followed by Chile, with 88 percent, and the United States with 81 percent.
Belief was lowest in the former east Germany (13 percent) and in the Czech Republic (20 percent).
The surveys found atheism was most widespread in Scandinavia and the former Soviet Union — with the exception of Poland — and that belief in God was generally declining worldwide, but not in Russia, Slovenia or Israel.
The report found that senior citizens tend to believe more strongly in God. On average, 43 percent of respondents 68 and older are certain that God exists, compared to just 23 percent of those 27 and younger, the report said.
“Looking at differences among age groups, the largest increases in belief in God most often occur among those 58 years of age and older,” said Tom Smith, who wrote the report, entitled “Belief About God Across Time and Countries.”
“This suggests that belief in God is especially likely to increase among the oldest groups, perhaps in response to the increasing anticipation of mortality,” Smith said.
In the United States, 54 percent of those younger than 28 said they were certain of God’s existence, compared to 66 percent of those 68 and older, while in France eight percent of young people said they believed in God, compared to 26 percent of older citizens.
The surveys, taken in 1991, 1998 and 2008, were mainly carried out in European countries, in addition to Chile, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
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Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
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July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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