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Data for 2002

Freedom of Religion, 2002

2002, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem's measure of freedom of religion asks whether people are free to choose, change and practise a religion, in private or in public, and whether religious groups can organise without interference from the authorities. It is an expert-coded estimate on an open-ended scale centred near zero, and a higher figure means more religious freedom.

Freedom of Religion, 2002 covers 175 countries. Sweden is highest, at 2.995; Saudi Arabia is lowest, at -3.515. The middle country reads 1.516. Against 2001, 14 values changed (10 up, 4 down), the same countries are covered.

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Freedom of Religion · Data for 2002

HighestSweden

2.995

LowestSaudi Arabia

-3.515

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Freedom of Religion, 2002, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 175 countries · select a heading to sort

Freedom of Religion, 2002: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1SwedenSWENorthern Europe2.995
2BrazilBRASouth America2.899
3FinlandFINNorthern Europe2.844
4New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand2.792
5United StatesUSANorthern America2.779
6PortugalPRTSouthern Europe2.743
7NorwayNORNorthern Europe2.739
8South KoreaKOREastern Asia2.687
9HungaryHUNEastern Europe2.686
10SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe2.654
11CzechiaCZEEastern Europe2.649
12TaiwanTWNEastern Asia2.607
13DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe2.594
14JapanJPNEastern Asia2.579
15AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe2.571
16IcelandISLNorthern Europe2.568
17AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand2.532
18GhanaGHAWestern Africa2.524
19PolandPOLEastern Europe2.497
20GuyanaGUYSouth America2.469
21NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe2.411
22United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe2.393
23NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa2.376
24PeruPERSouth America2.319
25Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa2.299

02In 2002

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Sweden2.995
  2. 2Brazil2.899
  3. 3Finland2.844
  4. 4New Zealand2.792
  5. 5United States2.779

Lowest

  1. 175Saudi Arabia-3.515
  2. 174North Korea-3.189
  3. 173Maldives-3.033
  4. 172Turkmenistan-2.464
  5. 171China-2.195

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 1.516. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032001 → 2002

Since 2001

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 14values changed, of 175 in both
  • 10 · 4rose · fell
  • 161unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2026 release

    Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 2002.

  • 173 distinct values among 175

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 1.103. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 175 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (2002). Freedom of Religion, 2002 [data set], describing 2002. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/freedom-of-religion/2002

0636 held

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