Singapore is the world’s most religiously diverse country, while Yemen is the least, according to a new report released today by the Pew Research Center. The study, “Religious Diversity Around the World,” analyzed 201 countries and territories, finding that the United States, while not among the top ten most diverse globally, ranks first among nations with very large populations. The report, part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, measures the evenness with which a country’s population is distributed among seven religious groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, adherents of other religions, and the religiously unaffiliated.
The Pew Research Center’s Religious Diversity Index (RDI) – a mathematical formula borrowed from ecology and economics – assigns a score based on the size of these seven groups. A higher RDI score indicates greater diversity. While Singapore leads the U.S. Stands out when considering only the ten most populous nations, surpassing Nigeria and Russia in religious diversity. This finding contrasts with the global trend, where most countries remain largely dominated by a single religious group. In 194 of the 201 countries studied, at least 50% of the population identifies with one religion, with 43 countries having 95% or more adhering to the same faith.
The report highlights a global pattern of religious concentration, with Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist faiths being the most prevalent in these homogenous nations. The analysis, based on estimates for 2025, reveals that overall religious diversity levels remained relatively stable between 2010 and 2020, suggesting limited shifts in the religious composition of most countries during that decade. According to EWTN News, in the world’s most religiously diverse places, Christians are often the largest group.
The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which produced this research, has previously published work on the world’s religious composition, providing a broader context for understanding these diversity patterns. The project aims to analyze religious change and its societal impacts worldwide. The RDI calculations cover 99.98% of the global population, offering a comprehensive view of religious distribution. The methodology relies on data from over 2,700 sources, including censuses and demographic surveys, as reported by Our World in Data, which frequently draws on Pew Research Center data.
The report does not offer explanations for the observed diversity levels, nor does it predict future trends. It simply presents a snapshot of the religious landscape as of 2020, leaving unanswered the question of whether these patterns will persist or evolve in the coming years.
