The Pew Global Attitudes Project surveyed 47 nations about a variety of topics this year. A few highlights include:

Wealth Affects Religion

• In poor countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, religion remains extremely important in the lives of individuals, while in wealthy nations, secularism is more common. One very wealthy nation, however, does not fit the pattern: the United States. Americans are considerably more religious than their level of prosperity would predict.

Communication Revolution

• People around the world continue to turn to television for news about international and national issues. The only exceptions are several African nations where radio is still the primary source of information. Newspapers continue to lose readers and trail far behind television as a news source.
• Online news sources are steadily gaining in popularity in the West and parts of Asia but draw only a tiny audience in Africa or Latin America.
• While computer usage has increased significantly in a many countries, particularly in Europe, it is growing relatively slowly, if at all, in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Americans and Italians are Snobs

• Americans are also more likely than most Western Europeans to think their culture is better than others. Over half of Americans (55%) agree with the statement, “Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others,” a larger percentage than in Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Britain and Sweden. But Italians are even more confident than Americans in their cultural pre-eminence; 68% of Italians believe their culture is superior.

For more insights, read the full report. It is a great resource for those involved in global ministry.