Economics and geography play a huge part in determining the level of religiosity among young people around the world, according to a new survey of international research.

The research brief, put together by US group Child Trends, finds that young people’s religious belief tends to be stronger in countries where there has been a culturally dominant religion, such as Islam or Catholicism.

The research also finds that the more economically developed a country is, the less religious young people are.

The study, entitled The Demographics of Religosity and Spirituality Among Youth: International and US Patterns, also found that high levels of “spirituality” among young people, do not indicate high levels of religious practice.

The brief draws on data provided by a range of international and US studies. According to figures from the 1999-2001 World Values Survey, young people’s religious practice falls into three broad categories.

In the first category, 75 percent or more of young adults believe in God and find both God and religion to be important in their lives. In Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Iran, for example, nearly all young adults said they believe in God.

Three-quarters or more of young adults reported that God is important and that religion is important in their lives. Many of these countries have a history of an influential dominant religion (e.g., Islam) and a developing economy.

The second category comprises of young people in countries where there is a high level of belief in God, but where religious practice is not strong. In Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, the US, and Canada, for instance, more than 80 percent of young adults said they believe in God.

But, while 18 percent (Italy) to 87 percent (Brazil) reported that God is important in their lives, just 18 percent (Italy) to 59 percent (Brazil) said religion is important. These countries represent a mix of traditional faiths and other religions, as well as more developed economies.

In still other countries, only moderate proportions of young adults believe in God, and the importance of God and religion in their lives is quite low. Examples of these countries are Taiwan, Russia, Spain, Great Britain, France, and Sweden.

In these countries, 40-73 percent of young adults reported a belief in God, but neither God nor religion was important to more than about 10 percent. Like the countries described immediately above, this group of countries includes both dominant religious traditions and other religions, as well as more developed economies. Some are located in Europe and have a history of a secular social welfare system (e.g., Sweden, Russia).

Other studies show a similar variation in religious belief amongst teenagers. A 1999 IEA Civic Education Study showed that only a minority of 14-year-olds participate in religious organizations across the world.

According to this survey, the highest participation rates are in the United States (42 percent) and Cyprus (47 percent).

The lowest participation rates (less than 19 percent) are in Northern, Western, and Eastern Europe, especially the latter, except for Germany (20 percent) and Slovenia (30 percent).

Young Europeans tend to have the lowest rate of religiosity. A 2007 study by the Bertelsmann Foundation among 21,000 persons in 21 countries found that 71 percent of European young adults (age 18-29) reported believing in God or something divine (41 percent strongly, 30 percent somewhat).

Although 72 percent of young adults reported being religious, only 18 percent said they were “highly” religious whereas more than half (54 percent) said they were “somewhat” religious.

In the US, surveys report higher levels of religiosity among young people, although this weakens as they grow from adolescence into young adulthood.

Data from the National Study of Youth and Religion found that more than four out of five (84 percent) adolescents aged between 13-17 believe in the existence of God.

The data also showed that religion plays a very strong role in the lives of U.S. adolescents age 13-17. When asked about the importance of their religious faith in shaping daily life and major life decisions, about half of adolescents said that their faith was very or extremely important.

However, when the survey spoke to the same teenagers five years later, it found that belief in God and in the importance of religion declines somewhat as adolescents age.

At Wave 2 of the study, when they were ages 18-23, 78 percent of youth in the longitudinal sample said they believe in God (vs. 84 percent at Wave 1), and 44 percent said that their religious faith was very or extremely important in shaping their daily lives (vs. 49 percent at Wave 1).