Pew report ranks Morocco among world’s least religiously diverse countries

Morocco ranks among the least religiously diverse countries in the world, according to a new global Religious Diversity Index released by the Pew Research Center.

The report places Morocco 197th worldwide, with a diversity score of 0.08, noting that 99.7% of Moroccans identify as Muslim. The ranking positions the kingdom among regions with very low levels of religious diversity.

At the opposite end of the scale, Singapore topped the global list as the most religiously diverse country, with Buddhists making up 31% of the population, Christians 19%, Muslims 16% and Hindus 5%. Suriname and Taiwan followed in second and third place.

Pew said most of the world’s 10 most religiously diverse countries are located in the Asia-Pacific region and sub-Saharan Africa. France was the only European country in the top 10, with a population made up largely of Christians at 46% and religiously unaffiliated people at 43%, alongside a Muslim minority of 9%.

Globally, the report found that in 194 countries and territories, at least half of the population belongs to a single religious group. That includes 43 places where 95% or more of residents adhere to the same religion, most of them either Muslim- or Christian-majority societies.

Only 49 countries have three or more religious groups each accounting for at least 5% of the population, including Singapore, Suriname, Taiwan and Malaysia. In seven countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and France, no single religious group forms a majority, according to the study.

The report also said the Middle East and North Africa is the least religiously diverse region worldwide, with Muslims accounting for 94% of the population. Just 1% of the world’s population lives in places with very high religious diversity, while 12% live in areas with very low diversity.

Pew noted that Muslims are among the religious groups most likely to live in countries with very low diversity, largely because many reside in the Middle East and North Africa. Religiously unaffiliated people, by contrast, tend to live in moderately diverse societies, particularly China, which alone accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s unaffiliated population.