The religious map of the world

Some 83 countries favour a specific religion - either as an official state or government religion, or by affording it preferential treatment over other faiths.

A Pew Research Center analysis of 199 countries broke down the numbers, finding that preferred treatment is offered in over 40 per cent of the countries surveyed.

Islam was the most commonly endorsed or preferred faith (27 countries), followed by Christianity (13).

Here's what the world map of state endorsed religion looks like:

Here's how the data breaks down:

Official State Religions:

Buddhism:

• Bhutan
• Cambodia

Christianity:

• Armenia
• Costa Rica
• Denmark
• Dominican Republic
• Greece
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Malta
• Monaco
• Norway
• Tuvalu
• United Kingdom
• Zambia

Islam:

• Afghanistan
• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Brunei
• Comoros
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Iran
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Libya
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palestinian territories
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates
• Western Sahara
• Yemen

Judaism:

• Israel

Preferred or favoured state religions:

Buddhism:

• Burma (Myanmar)
• Laos
• Mongolia
• Sri Lanka

Christianity:

• Andorra
• Angola
• Argentina
• Belarus
• Bulgaria
• Cape Verde
• Equatorial Guinea
• Finland
• Georgia
• Guatemala
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Italy
• Liberia
• Moldova
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Papua New Guinea
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Poland
• Republic of Macedonia
• Romania
• Russia
• Samoa
• Spain
• Swaziland
• Tonga

Islam:

• Sudan
• Syria
• Turkey

Multiple religions:

• Eritrea
• Indonesia
• Lithuania
• Serbia
• Togo

Ten countries tightly regulate all religious institutions or are actively hostile to religion in general.

The majority of governments are neutral.

HT Pew Research Centre

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