Wealth and Religiosity

I just saw this graph in the March 2008 Atlantic magazine.

It comes from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, a survey of over 45,000 people.

Yellow is South and Central America; Green is the Middle East; Purple is Asia.

In the full report, they also compare the results to five years ago. Venezuela and Germany had the greatest increase in religiosity, whereas Ukraine and India the greatest decrease. And the consensus of 46 out of 47 countries is that religion should be kept separate from government policy.

Definition: Religiosity is measured using a three-item index ranging from 0-3, with 3 representing the maximum religious position. Respondents were given a +1 if they believe faith in God is necessary for morality; and +1 if they say religion is very important in their lives; and +1 if they pray at least once a day.

Original here