USD Sociologist Studies Worldwide Trends in Religiosity
“We know a lot about trends in American religiousness, as well as Western countries in general,” said Louisa Roberts, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology. “I’m trying to expand that understanding to encompass the rest of the regions of the world. The question is especially interesting in light of the academic theory, which has been around for over a century, that modern life makes people less religious.”
Using advanced statistical techniques, Roberts studies data from 1981 through 2020 collected by the World Values Survey. This source includes information on the social, political, economic, religious and cultural values from almost 600,000 people in more than 100 countries.
A major factor in the decline in religiousness in the West is generational differences. The data show that younger generations are less likely to be religious than older ones. The U.S. is unique, however. Even within generations, including older ones, Americans have become less religious over recent decades, Roberts said.
When Roberts looked at other regions around the globe, she found some trends similar to those of the U.S. and other Western countries.
“Latin American is a muted version of the West,” Roberts said. “The countries all have this generational pattern, where the older generations are more religious consistently over time.”
Middle Eastern countries have also started to show a small decline in average religiosity, she added. “This slight dip has happened in recent years, which suggests that there might be some reaction to the rise of political Islam.”
Other areas, such as the former Soviet and Eastern Bloc countries following the fall of the Soviet Union, continued to grow more religious throughout this period, Roberts said. Some Asian countries have also shown no evidence of religious decline.
“The question of whether modern life makes people less religious is a region-by-region story,” she said. “You can argue that modern life is now a worldwide phenomenon, and it should be making everyone less religious, but that’s clearly not the case.”
Roberts said studying these trends sheds light on an important aspect of society.
“Exploring the questions of what people around the world believe in and what direction that is going in will bring us a better understanding of our world,” Roberts said.
