Methodology of the Pew Research Global Religious Landscape Study

Abstract

A comprehensive demographic study by Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84 of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion who live in more than 230 countries and territories. At the same time, the new study by the Pew Research Center also finds that roughly one-in-six people around the globe have no religious affiliation. This chapter describes the methods used to create these estimates. Pew Research Center analysts standardized religion categories in all available censuses and surveys for each country. Censuses and nationally representative surveys can provide valid and reliable measures of religious landscapes when they are conducted following the best practices of social science research. In the chapter, researchers sought to ensure that primary sources were representative of the entire country. Keywords: census data; Pew Research Center; religious landscapes; social science research; survey data