Data for 2012

Freedom of Religion, 2012

Name: Freedom of Religion, 2012
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2012, 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, 2012 covers 176 countries. Brazil is highest, at 2.899; Saudi Arabia is lowest, at -3.515. The middle country reads 1.635. Against 2011, 31 values changed (14 up, 17 down), the same countries are covered.

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Freedom of Religion · Data for 2012

HighestBrazil

2.899

LowestSaudi Arabia

-3.515

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

176countries
1measure
2012the year it describes
172distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Freedom of Religion, 2012, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Freedom of Religion, 2012: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Brazil`BRA`South America	2.899
2	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	2.844
3	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	2.792
4	United States`USA`Northern America	2.779
5	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	2.743
6	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	2.739
7	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	2.687
8	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	2.649
9	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	2.629
10	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	2.607
11	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	2.594
12	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	2.592
13	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	2.579
14	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	2.571
15	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	2.532
16	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	2.524
17	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	2.497
18	Guyana`GUY`South America	2.469
19	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	2.464
20	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	2.411
21	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	2.393
22	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	2.376
23	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	2.332
24	Colombia`COL`South America	2.325
25	Peru`PER`South America	2.319
26	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	2.299
27	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	2.295
28	Suriname`SUR`South America	2.291
29	Argentina`ARG`South America	2.290
30	Paraguay`PRY`South America	2.278
31	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	2.267
32	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	2.260
33	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	2.252
34	Canada`CAN`Northern America	2.248
35	France`FRA`Western Europe	2.244
36	Bolivia`BOL`South America	2.242
37	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	2.230
38	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	2.178
39	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	2.177
40	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	2.173
41	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	2.170
42	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	2.116
43	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	2.091
44	Chile`CHL`South America	2.088
45	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	2.087
46	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	2.078
47	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	2.075
48	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	2.056
49	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	2.051
50	Uruguay`URY`South America	2.016
51	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	2.005
=52	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	2.002
=52	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	2.002
54	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	1.987
55	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	1.958
56	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	1.942
57	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	1.925
58	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	1.917
59	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	1.911
60	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	1.903
61	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	1.893
62	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	1.892
63	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	1.888
64	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	1.882
65	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	1.876
66	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	1.875
67	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1.871
68	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	1.862
69	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	1.861
70	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	1.838
71	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	1.822
72	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	1.815
73	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	1.767
74	Honduras`HND`Central America	1.756
75	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	1.737
76	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	1.729
77	Ecuador`ECU`South America	1.726
78	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.721
79	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	1.714
80	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	1.699
81	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.672
=82	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	1.670
=82	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	1.670
84	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	1.668
85	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	1.658
86	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	1.649
87	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	1.645
88	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	1.636
89	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	1.634
90	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	1.628
91	Panama`PAN`Central America	1.620
92	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	1.605
93	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	1.577
94	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	1.575
95	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	1.540
96	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	1.516
97	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	1.442
98	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.419
99	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	1.416
100	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	1.414
101	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	1.377
102	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1.375
=103	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	1.357
=103	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	1.357
105	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	1.345
106	Mexico`MEX`Central America	1.336
107	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	1.188
=108	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	1.174
=108	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	1.174
110	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	1.133
111	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	1.103
112	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	1.100
113	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	1.077
114	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	1.063
115	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	1.014
116	Venezuela`VEN`South America	1.009
117	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.994
118	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.982
119	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.955
120	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.930
121	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.922
122	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.919
123	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.854
124	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.844
125	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.811
126	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.745
127	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.547
128	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.533
129	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.510
130	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.470
131	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.424
132	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.379
133	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.302
134	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.230
135	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.156
136	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.130
137	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.123
138	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.119
139	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.005
140	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	-0.054
141	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-0.096
142	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.150
143	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	-0.318
144	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	-0.387
145	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	-0.422
146	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-0.474
147	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	-0.547
148	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	-0.567
149	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	-0.568
150	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	-0.597
151	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	-0.604
152	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-0.647
153	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	-0.690
154	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	-0.691
155	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-0.762
156	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-0.857
157	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-1.066
158	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-1.069
159	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-1.205
160	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.355
161	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	-1.406
162	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	-1.466
163	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-1.615
164	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-1.626
165	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-1.645
166	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-1.737
167	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	-1.826
168	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	-2.008
169	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-2.047
170	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-2.058
171	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	-2.062
172	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-2.134
173	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-2.454
174	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	-3.126
175	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	-3.189
176	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	-3.515

02In 2012

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Brazil2.899
2Finland2.844
3New Zealand2.792
4United States2.779
5Portugal2.743

Lowest

176Saudi Arabia-3.515
175North Korea-3.189
174Maldives-3.126
173Turkmenistan-2.454
172Uzbekistan-2.134

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 1.635. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032011 → 2012

Since 2011

+0 / −0countries joined / left
31values changed, of 176 in both
14 · 17rose · fell
145unchanged

Rose most

Ireland2.141 → 2.464+0.323
Canada1.927 → 2.248+0.321
Lebanon1.465 → 1.634+0.169
Vietnam-0.686 → -0.547+0.139
Bahrain-1.511 → -1.406+0.105

Fell most

Syria-1.149 → -1.466−0.317
Myanmar-0.590 → -0.857−0.267
Turkmenistan-2.265 → -2.454−0.189
Sudan-1.229 → -1.355−0.126
Ethiopia1.693 → 1.575−0.118

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 2012.
172 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 2.002. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 176 countries has every column.

05The files

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Licence in full

.csv
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176 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download freedom-of-religion-2012-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-Core-v16_csv.zip

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 (2012). Freedom of Religion, 2012 [data set], describing 2012. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/freedom-of-religion/2012

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Freedom of Religion, 2011
176 countries
The year after ›
Freedom of Religion, 2013
176 countries
All of them
Freedom of Religion: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

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