Number of countries with high or very high social hostilities rose in 2023
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- Pew Research Center found 55 of 198 countries scored high or very high on the Social Hostilities Index (SHI) in 2023, up from 45 in 2022, with the total jumping from 49 high-scoring countries to 49 in 2023 after 38 the prior year.
- Nigeria, India, Israel, Syria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan each posted SHI scores of at least 7.5, the six countries rated "very high" for religion-related hostilities by private actors in 2023.
- Israel moved from "high" to "very high" on the SHI (7.1 to 8.4), partly reflecting the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which Pew counted as a religiously-motivated terrorist incident on Israeli territory.
- Bangladesh also moved into the "very high" category (6.1 to 7.8) after a March 3-4 mob attack on Ahmadi Muslims at a gathering in Panchagarh district left two dead, dozens injured, and an Ahmadi mosque destroyed, per the U.S. State Department.
- Government restrictions stayed roughly flat, with 58 countries scoring high or very high on the Government Restrictions Index (vs. 59 in 2022); China, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, and Uzbekistan led with "very high" GRI scores above 7.8.
- Argentina, Sudan, and Sweden posted the largest SHI jumps (2.0+ points) — Argentina's rise followed police discovery of Nazi memorabilia in a Buenos Aires law firm's "private museum," while Sweden's increase was linked to Quran desecrations outside the Stockholm Mosque.
- Only 51 countries saw SHI scores decrease in 2023, the fewest year-to-year declines in the 16-year history of Pew's study.
Why it matters: Only 51 countries saw religious hostility scores improve in 2023 — the fewest year-to-year declines in Pew's 16-year study, meaning fewer places are getting better even as more deteriorate. Meanwhile, 25 countries, including China, Iran, and Afghanistan, still scored 'very high' on government restrictions, meaning state-level religious control remained entrenched across a wide swath of the world.
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