India among 25 nations with high religious restrictions: Data

India scored highest in religion-related hostilities in 2022, with high government restrictions, according to Pew Research Center report.

On an index measuring religion-related hostilities for 2022, India scored the highest among 198 nations, according to a report recently published by the Pew Research Center. A higher score on the social hostilities index (SHI) indicates greater levels of religion-related harassment, mob violence, terrorism, militant activity, and conflicts over religious conversions or the use of religious symbols and attire. India scored 9.3 on a scale of 10 on the SHI. Scores above 7.2 are considered ‘very high’.

The report also assessed countries based on the government’s restrictions on religion, using the government restrictions index (GRI). The GRI measures laws, policies, and actions that regulate or limit religious beliefs and practices. These include policies banning particular beliefs or practices, the unequal granting of benefits to certain religious groups, and bureaucratic rules requiring religious groups to register to access benefits. India had a ‘high’ GRI score of 6.4 out of 10 in 2022. Scores above 6.6 are classified as ‘very high’.

Chart 1 plots the GRI (horizontal axis) and SHI (vertical axis) scores of 198 countries for 2022. The higher a country is on the chart, the more it experiences religion-related hostilities by non-government players. The farther to the right, the more government restrictions there are on religions.

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Only 12% (25 countries) had ‘high’ or ‘very high’ GRI scores and SHI scores in 2022: India, Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel, Libya, Palestinian territories, Ukraine, Bangladesh, France, Jordan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Tunisia, Indonesia, Yemen, Laos, Nepal, Algeria, Maldives, and Armenia. In about 62% of the countries, including Canada and South Korea, the GRI and SHI scores were ‘low’ or ‘moderate’. In 16% of the countries, the GRI was ‘very high’ or ‘high’, but the SHI was ‘low’ or ‘moderate’; these include Cuba and China. In 10% of countries, the GRI was ‘low’ or ‘moderate’, but the SHI was ‘high’ or ‘very high’. These include Brazil and the Philippines.

Chart 2 shows the share and number of countries (in bold) with high or very high GRI score over the years

The number of countries with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ GHI scores rose to 59 (30% of 198 countries) in 2022 from 55 in 2021. In 2007, when the index was started, only 40 nations (20%) had ‘high’ or ‘very high’ scores.