A version of this story appeared in the June 20-July 3, 2014 print issue under the headline: Worldwide study scores US religious diversity as moderate.
June 16, 2014
Non-Christian religions account for only about 5 percent of the U.S. population, according to Pew Research Center's recent study on religious diversity.
The remainder of the U.S. population is made up of Christians and the "religiously unaffiliated," whom the center defined as "those who say they are atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular."
Released in April, the study, "Global Religious Diversity: Half of the Most Religiously Diverse Countries Are in Asia-Pacific Region," analyzes religious diversity in 232 countries and territories. The study ranks each country using a "Religious Diversity Index," calculated from the percentage of population that belongs to eight major religious groups as of 2010.
