This study demonstrates the statistical relationship, on a per
country basis, between religiosity (how religious a person is) and crime rate,
and by implication morality (the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions
between those that are "good" (or right) and those that are
"bad" (or wrong)).
In this study I will attempt to be as objective as
possible. The purpose of this document
is not to support a point of view, but to analyze and explain statistical data.
Religiosity
To measure religiously by country, I am using this study http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Importance_of_religion_by_country
The methodology in this study is based upon global a Gallup
poll that asked the question "Is religion important in your daily
life?" the "yes" and "no" answers are represented in
the data below as a percentage, with Estonia and Sweden being the lowest with
16% saying “Yes, religion is important in my daily life” and Bangladesh and
Somalia being the highest at 100% of population saying “Yes, religion is important
in my daily life”.
Crime and Morality
There is no objective way to measure morality since almost
everyone, if asked will claim they are a moral person. So instead I am looking
at crime rates since crime can be measured objectively and since studies have
shown that morality prevents crime ( http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/morality-prevents-crime)
and it is a generally accepted principle that crime is immoral, then I am using
crime to measure morality.
Crime statistics by country are sourced from http://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp
Crime Index is an estimation of overall level of
crime in a given country. The numbers range from 17 for the lowest crime
countries (South Korea and Singapore) to
85 for the highest crime countries (South Sudan and Venezuela).
The raw data for the above scatter graph is show in the table below. The 2 letter codes are the standard abbreviation country codes shown in the table below.
On the left side of the graph, the most secular (least
religious) countries are Estonia, Sweden, China and Denmark. Average crime index for the 20
least religious countries is 35.
On the right side of the graph, the most religious countries are Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Somalia. Average crime index for the 20 most
religious countries is 53, that’s about 50% higher than the crime index of the
20 least religious countries.
The blue line shows a general trend that, the more religious a
country is, the higher the crime index. Note that this is a general trend, not
a close correlation to all countries.
There is a large deviation from the trend line in countries such
as Singapore when has a 70% religiosity rate and the second lowest crime rate
in the world, and Viet Nam, France, Russia and Albania which have relatively
low religiosity rate (29-33%) to mid-level crime index rate(49-52).
However,
some interesting facts emerge from this graph. The green line shows that some
of the lowest crime rate countries, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Georgia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Rwanda
(Rwanda numbers are obviously post genocide) range from very low to very high
religiosity. The pink line shows a very clear relationship that in many
countries, as religiosity increases, crime increases.
Conclusions by region
Europe Eurasia, (light green), Australia and New Zealand
(dark green), predominantly Christian countries, do not show a high degree of correlation
between religiosity and crime. Crime index rates are between 20 and 50
regardless of the rate of religiosity.
North America (red), (Canada, USA, Mexico, predominantly Christian
countries) do show a high degree of correlation between religiosity and crime.
Asia (blue), includes Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and others, is
a mixed bag which does not show a high degree of correlation between
religiosity and crime, except for Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Africa (purple), Muslim and Christian. shows a medium degree
of correlation between religiosity and crime. While religiosity is very high in
the entire region, not all countries have high crime index, but about two
thirds do. Within the Africa group, there is no observable correlation between
religiosity and crime.
The Middle East (tan), mostly Muslim, does not show a high
degree of correlation between religiosity and crime. In fact, crime rates are
no higher than Christian Europe and North America overall, except for Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Egypt, even through religiously is very high.
And South America (brown), very Christian, shows both religiously
and crime is very high but within the group, we do not see a high degree of correlation
between religiosity and crime.
Overall Conclusions
If you look at the world as a whole, there is a clear indication
that on average, as the level of religiosity increases, so does the level of
crime, and therefore, I propose, so does a drop in moral values.
However, clearly religion is not the only factor that
effects crime rates, it’s also very much influenced by economic and other
factors. Less developed regions like
Africa and South America have very high crime rates and within their regions,
there is no obvious correlation between religiosity and crime.
One thing I think is very clear from this data is that on
one can claim religiosity reduces crime, and therefor is more moral than secularism
or atheism, as many religions like to claim.
Country
|
% of population who say "religion important in my daily
life"
|
crime index (15 = least crime, 85 = most crime)
|
Crime
rank (1=least crime 147=most crime
|
|
Estonia
|
EE
|
16
|
28.13
|
18
|
Sweden
|
SE
|
16.5
|
42.09
|
61
|
China
|
CN
|
18
|
41.75
|
57
|
Denmark
|
DK
|
18
|
25.71
|
13
|
Czech Republic
|
CZ
|
20.5
|
32.89
|
30
|
Norway
|
NO
|
20.5
|
31.19
|
28
|
Hong Kong
|
NK
|
23
|
19.24
|
7
|
Japan
|
JP
|
23.5
|
20.24
|
8
|
Netherlands
|
NL
|
24.5
|
35.41
|
40
|
United Kingdom
|
GB
|
26.5
|
42.01
|
59
|
Finland
|
FI
|
28
|
29.55
|
23
|
France
|
FR
|
29.5
|
49.71
|
91
|
Vietnam
|
VN
|
29.5
|
52.29
|
100
|
Australia
|
AU
|
32
|
42.16
|
62
|
Albania
|
AL
|
32.5
|
49.6
|
89
|
South Korea
|
KR
|
32.5
|
17.99
|
4
|
Belarus
|
BY
|
33
|
30.5
|
27
|
Belgium
|
BE
|
33
|
42.04
|
60
|
New Zealand
|
NZ
|
33
|
39.76
|
52
|
Russia
|
RU
|
33
|
51.33
|
97
|
Bulgaria
|
BG
|
33.5
|
43.45
|
67
|
Luxembourg
|
LU
|
35.74
|
35.74
|
43
|
Hungary
|
HU
|
39
|
41.76
|
58
|
Latvia
|
LV
|
39
|
37.22
|
50
|
Germany
|
DE
|
40.5
|
28.49
|
19
|
Uruguay
|
UY
|
40.5
|
47.17
|
79
|
Lithuania
|
LT
|
41.5
|
36.69
|
48
|
Switzerland
|
CH
|
41.5
|
26.77
|
16
|
Canada
|
CA
|
42
|
37.46
|
51
|
Kazakhstan
|
KZ
|
43
|
46.68
|
76
|
Taiwan
|
TW
|
45
|
21.88
|
10
|
Ukraine
|
UA
|
45.5
|
49.36
|
86
|
Slovakia
|
SK
|
46.5
|
33.34
|
33
|
Slovenia
|
SI
|
47
|
28.71
|
20
|
Azerbaijan
|
AZ
|
49.5
|
35.47
|
41
|
Israel
|
IL
|
49.5
|
30.4
|
26
|
Spain
|
ES
|
49.5
|
33.85
|
34
|
Serbia
|
RS
|
50.5
|
43.43
|
66
|
Uzbekistan
|
UZ
|
51
|
58.13
|
109
|
Ireland
|
IE
|
53.5
|
49.07
|
84
|
Austria
|
AT
|
55
|
26.25
|
15
|
Belize
|
BZ
|
61.5
|
62.27
|
116
|
Kosovo
|
KO
|
63.5
|
46.76
|
77
|
United States
|
US
|
65
|
50.01
|
94
|
Argentina
|
AR
|
66
|
62.4
|
118
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
BA
|
66
|
45.82
|
74
|
Croatia
|
HR
|
66.5
|
29.34
|
22
|
Chile
|
CL
|
69.5
|
45.01
|
72
|
Jamaica
|
JM
|
70
|
71.91
|
136
|
Singapore
|
SG
|
70
|
17.59
|
2
|
Greece
|
GR
|
71.5
|
41.35
|
55
|
Italy
|
IT
|
71.5
|
47.5
|
81
|
Moldova
|
MD
|
71.5
|
49.7
|
90
|
Portugal
|
PT
|
71.5
|
35.84
|
44
|
Mexico
|
MX
|
72
|
53.84
|
101
|
Armenia
|
AM
|
72.5
|
29.14
|
21
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
KG
|
72.5
|
65.07
|
122
|
Poland
|
PL
|
74.5
|
32.99
|
31
|
Cyprus
|
CY
|
75
|
31.56
|
29
|
Haiti
|
HT
|
75
|
62.31
|
117
|
Botswana
|
BW
|
77
|
46.77
|
78
|
Macedonia
|
MK
|
78.5
|
36.06
|
45
|
Costa Rica
|
CR
|
79
|
63.05
|
119
|
India
|
IN
|
79
|
46.55
|
75
|
Venezuela
|
VE
|
79
|
84.07
|
146
|
Georgia
|
GE
|
80
|
22.01
|
11
|
Ecuador
|
EC
|
82
|
54.04
|
102
|
Colombia
|
CO
|
82.5
|
56.88
|
107
|
Iran
|
IR
|
82.5
|
50.9
|
96
|
El Salvador
|
SV
|
83
|
69.44
|
130
|
Peru
|
PE
|
83.5
|
57.63
|
108
|
Honduras
|
HN
|
84
|
74.91
|
139
|
Nicaragua
|
NI
|
84
|
42.37
|
63
|
Puerto Rico
|
PR
|
84.5
|
67.06
|
125
|
South Africa
|
ZA
|
84.5
|
78.44
|
144
|
Dominican Republic
|
DM
|
86
|
67.72
|
126
|
Iraq
|
IQ
|
86
|
54.06
|
103
|
Mozambique
|
MZ
|
86
|
60.47
|
112
|
Brazil
|
BR
|
86.5
|
68.95
|
129
|
Zimbabwe
|
ZW
|
87.5
|
62.18
|
115
|
Angola
|
AO
|
88
|
67.97
|
127
|
Guatemala
|
GT
|
88
|
79.34
|
145
|
Panama
|
PA
|
88
|
50.08
|
95
|
Bolivia
|
BO
|
88.5
|
65.6
|
123
|
Lebanon
|
LB
|
89.5
|
51.98
|
99
|
Turkey
|
TR
|
89.5
|
36.4
|
47
|
Ethiopia
|
ET
|
91
|
35.07
|
38
|
United Arab Emirates
|
AE
|
91
|
22.22
|
12
|
Namibia
|
NA
|
91.5
|
55.59
|
105
|
Paraguay
|
PY
|
91.5
|
55.57
|
104
|
Trinidad and Tobago
|
TT
|
92
|
75.28
|
140
|
Kuwait
|
KW
|
92.5
|
43.51
|
68
|
Algeria
|
DZ
|
93
|
51.34
|
98
|
Nepal
|
NP
|
93
|
49.18
|
85
|
Palestine
|
PP
|
93
|
35.39
|
39
|
Tunisia
|
TN
|
93
|
42.67
|
64
|
Uganda
|
UG
|
93
|
59.41
|
110
|
Kenya
|
KE
|
94
|
72.61
|
137
|
Liberia
|
LR
|
94
|
69.64
|
131
|
Thailand
|
TH
|
94
|
37.06
|
49
|
Ghana
|
GH
|
94.5
|
49.42
|
87
|
Qatar
|
QA
|
94.5
|
21.04
|
9
|
Saudi Arabia
|
SA
|
94.5
|
34.57
|
36
|
Rwanda
|
RW
|
95
|
19.16
|
6
|
Bahrain
|
BH
|
95.5
|
39.97
|
53
|
Cameroon
|
CM
|
95.5
|
64.84
|
121
|
Malaysia
|
MY
|
95.5
|
69.97
|
133
|
Nigeria
|
NE
|
95.5
|
76.6
|
141
|
Philippines
|
PH
|
95.5
|
43.11
|
65
|
Cambodia
|
KH
|
96
|
44.06
|
70
|
Yemen
|
YE
|
96
|
70.09
|
134
|
Jordan
|
JO
|
96.5
|
45.51
|
73
|
Laos
|
LA
|
96.5
|
36.24
|
46
|
Pakistan
|
PK
|
96.5
|
61.16
|
113
|
Tanzania
|
TZ
|
96.5
|
61.8
|
114
|
Afghanistan
|
AF
|
97
|
77.34
|
143
|
Zambia
|
ZM
|
97
|
41.72
|
56
|
Egypt
|
EG
|
98
|
60.14
|
111
|
Morocco
|
MA
|
98.5
|
47.55
|
82
|
Indonesia
|
ID
|
99
|
47.22
|
80
|
Sri Lanka
|
LK
|
99
|
49.96
|
93
|
Bangladesh
|
BD
|
100
|
64.25
|
120
|
Somalia
|
SO
|
100
|
65.6
|
124
|
