Afghanistan has been ranked as the world’s most religious country, where 96 percent people pray daily.
According to the statistics by PEW Research, for each country we’ve included the most recent figures available.
- Afghanistan
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic where Islam is practiced by 99% of its citizens. As high as 80% of the population follow Sunni Islam and the remaining are Shias. Apart from Muslims, there are also small minorities – Sikhs and Hindus – living in the Asian country.
- Nigeria
This West African country has been ranked in the second position with 95 percent people praying daily.
About 50% of Nigeria’s population is Muslim, 40% are Christians while 10% adhere to local religions.
- Iran
Eighty-seven percent people in the Middle Eastern country pray daily and around 90 – 95% of Iranians associate themselves with the Shia branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 5–10% with the Sunni and Sufi branches of Islam.
The remaining 0.6% associate themselves with non-Islamic religious minorities, including Bahá’ís, Mandeans, Yarsanis, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians.
- Indonesia
This Southeast Asian country stands at fourth in the list with the 84 percent people praying daily.
In Indonesia, 87.18% of people identified themselves as Muslim (with Sunnis more than 99%, Shias 0.5%, Ahmadis 0.2%); 7% Protestant Christian; 2.91% Catholic Christian; 1.69% Hindu; 0.72% Buddhist; and 0.05% Confucianism.
- India
This South Asian country is ranked fifth in the most religious country’s list as 75 percent of the population offers prayers on daily basis.
India’s 1.3 billion people are about 80 percent Hindu and 14 percent Muslim, with the rest made up of Christians, Sikhs and other minorities.
- Pakistan
Pakistan, another South Asian country, stands at sixth spot. Some 67 percent population pray daily in the country, with Islam as the state religion. Muslims make 96% of the country’s population.
The remaining 4% practice Hinduism (2.12%), Christianity (1.59%), Sikhism and other religions.
- Brazil
This South American country claims seventh position in the list with 61 percent people praying daily.
Christianity is the largest religion in Brazil, with most Roman Catholics adherents. Brazil possesses a richly spiritual society formed from the meeting of the Roman Catholic Church with the religious traditions of African slaves and indigenous people.
- Turkey
Turkey has been ranked eighth in the list with 60 percent of total population praying on daily basis.
Islam is the largest religion in Turkey, with 99.8% Muslims, while other religions include Christianity and Judaism.
- USA
The United States of America has been ranked ninth in the list of world’s most religious country.
Some 83 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Most of the rest, 13 percent, have no religion. That leaves just 4 percent as adherents of all non-Christian religions combined — Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others.
- Japan
This East Asian country has been ranked 10th in the list with the 33 percent population praying daily.
Religion in Japan is dominated by Shinto (the ethnic religion of the Japanese people) and by Buddhism. According to surveys carried out in 2006 and 2008, less than 40% of the population of Japan identifies with organised religion: around 35% are Buddhists, 3% to 4% are members of Shinto sects and derived religions, and from fewer than 1% to 2.3% are Christians.
Least religious countries
The least religious countries, on the other hand, include Israel (27%), Canada (25%), Italy (21%), Russia (18%), France (10%), Germany (9%), and UK (6%), but China surpasses them all, with only 1 per cent people offering prayers daily.
