Is belief in God essential to morality? That's what the Gallup organization asked of 40,000 people in 40 countries in 2011, 2013 and 2014. (Full Report)

As is typically the case, the younger, more educated and wealthier were more likely to answer no. The older, less educated and poorer were more likely to answer yes.

Nearly 100% of people in Pakistan, Ghana, and Indonesia said theism is required for morality. Less than 20% of people in France, Spain, and Great Britain said so. In China, 14% said faith is essential to being good. In the United States, 53% said yes.

Like China, the United States is an outlier. Compared to people in other wealthy countries, Americans are far more likely to say theism is necessary to be a good person. In poorer countries, people are more likely to equate ethics and faith, except for the Chinese, who are the least likely to do so.

What did the people of your country say?

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It's interesting that the Chinese see little correlation between morality and faith. They are no more educated than most other ethnic races and certainly the majority are by no means wealthy. It's apparent that education is critical to the cause of eliminating religious thought. 

When answering the question I suppose a potentially hostile government could affect your decision. The important consideration is whether they were able to reply anonymously when providing their answer. 

There is Ghana, top of the list. Land of Sakawah ->aka Internet scam voodoo

I'm glad to see South Africa on that list, but shocked to see that our percentage is so high! 

It looks about 75%

I don't like the title to the lower graph. These are attitudes toward the necessity of God for morality, not just wealth and morality.

Maybe the poor just need God since they lack wealth, or maybe their need of God inhibits their prosperity. I won't myself attribute one as the effect of the other, but I do feel inclined to point out Hitchens' case that the empowerment of women yields economic prosperity, which is rather consistent with these statistics.

Hmmm, I wonder if GDP isn't quite the right measure for this question.  While the US may have the highest GDP, we also have an embarrassingly high rate of poverty when compared with other wealthy nations.

Just a thought, but that graph might look quite different if we put poverty rates instead of GDP on the x-axis.


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