In short
Prayer is a daily habit for most of the world, but rates swing hard by country. In Pew Research Center's 36-country survey (2024 fieldwork), 95% of adults in Indonesia pray at least once a day, the highest measured, followed by Kenya and Nigeria at 84% each. Wealthier nations pray far less: 18% in France and just 8% in Sweden. The United States is the standout exception at 44% daily, far above other high-income countries. Pew's earlier Global God Divide found prayer important in daily life for a median of 96% of adults in emerging economies versus 41% in advanced economies.
- Daily prayer is near-universal in emerging economies but rare across secular Western Europe and East Asia.
- National wealth tracks strongly with lower prayer and religiosity, though the US defies that pattern.
- US daily prayer has fallen sharply since 2007 but has held roughly steady since 2021.
- Within countries, women usually pray more than men, with Israel and France as noted exceptions.
Prayer is a daily habit for most of the world, but rates swing hard by country. In Pew Research Center's 36-country survey (fielded January to May 2024, published May 2025), 95% of adults in Indonesia say they pray at least once a day, the highest rate measured, followed by Kenya and Nigeria (both 84%). Wealthier nations pray far less: just 18% in France, 21% in Japan, and 8% in Sweden. The United States is the standout exception, with 44% of adults praying daily, far above other high-income countries. Pew's earlier Global God Divide found prayer is an important part of daily life for a median of 96% of adults in emerging economies versus 41% in advanced economies.
prayer important in daily life, emerging vs advanced economies
Key findings at a glance
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest daily prayer (Indonesia) | 95% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Lowest daily prayer (Sweden) | 8% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| US adults who pray daily | 44% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| Countries (of 35 outside US) with a praying majority | 14 of 35 | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Prayer important in daily life, emerging vs advanced | 96% vs 41% | 2019 | Pew Research Center |
| GDP vs "God needed for morality" correlation | -0.86 | 2019 | Pew Research Center |
Where the world prays most
The highest daily-prayer rates are concentrated in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Indonesia leads at 95%, and in a majority of the countries surveyed outside the US, at least half of adults pray every day.
Indonesia has the highest daily-prayer rate of 36 countries surveyed, with 95% of adults saying they pray at least once a day, according to Pew Research Center.
In 14 of the 35 countries surveyed outside the US, a majority of adults say they pray at least once a day, according to Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya adults praying daily | 84% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Nigeria adults praying daily | 84% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Philippines adults praying daily | 79% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Countries surveyed (six continents; 41,503 non-US adults) | 36 countries | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
The US as the wealthy-nation outlier
Rich countries generally pray little, yet the United States breaks the pattern. At 44% daily prayer, the US sits far above peers such as Japan, France, Germany, and Sweden, where two-thirds of adults never pray.
The US stands out among high-income countries on daily prayer, with 44% of US adults praying daily compared with 21% in Japan and 18% in France, according to Pew Research Center.
44% of US adults say they pray at least once a day, according to Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada adults praying daily | 30% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| United Kingdom adults praying daily | 21% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Japan adults praying daily | 21% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| France adults praying daily | 18% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Germany adults praying daily | 16% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Australia adults praying daily | 16% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Sweden adults praying daily (among the lowest of 36) | 8% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
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The wealth and prayer relationship
Across countries, national income tracks strongly with lower prayer and religiosity. Pew's Global God Divide found prayer far more central to daily life in emerging economies than advanced ones, though these are associations across countries, not causation, and measure "prayer important in daily life" rather than daily frequency.
Prayer is an important part of daily life for a median of 96% of adults in emerging economies versus a median of 41% in advanced economies, according to Pew Research Center's Global God Divide report.
Across 34 countries, higher national GDP per capita is strongly associated with lower agreement that belief in God is necessary to be moral, with a correlation of -0.86, according to Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Countries where 3/4+ say religion is very important | 12 of 36 | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Bangladesh adults saying religion is very important | 97% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| France and South Korea saying religion is very important | 18% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Advanced economies saying God needed to be moral (global median 45%) | 22% | 2019 | Pew Research Center |
| Say God plays an important role in their lives (prayer important: 53%) | 61% | 2019 | Pew Research Center |
How prayer is changing over time
US daily prayer has fallen substantially over two decades, but the decline is not continuing at the same pace. Most of the recent drop happened between 2015 and 2021, and the rate has held roughly steady since.
The share of US adults who pray daily fell from 58% in 2007 to 55% in 2014 to 44% in 2023-24, according to Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study.
Most of the recent decline in US daily prayer happened between 2015 and 2021, when the daily-prayer share fell from 57% to 45%, and it has been relatively stable since 2021, according to Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| US adults who seldom or never pray | About one-third | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
Who prays more within countries
Inside countries, daily prayer varies by gender, religious affiliation, race, and age. Women usually pray more than men, and religiously affiliated adults pray more than the unaffiliated, but there are notable exceptions such as Israel, where men pray more, and France, where younger adults pray more.
In the US, women are more likely than men to pray daily, at 50% versus 37%, according to Pew Research Center.
Israel is an exception to the usual gender pattern, with men more likely than women to pray daily, at 40% versus 28%, according to Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy women vs men praying daily | About 2x | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| US daily prayer: Black adults (most likely group) | 64% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| US daily prayer: Hispanic, White, Asian adults | 47% / 40% / 34% | 2023-24 | Pew Research Center |
| South Africa: Christians vs unaffiliated praying daily | 69% vs 35% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| France: ages 18-34 vs oldest adults praying daily | 28% vs 15% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
Belief that travels with prayer
The US high prayer rate travels with related beliefs. Americans are far more likely than other wealthy-nation adults to believe in an afterlife, which helps explain why the US prays more than its peers, and most of the world sees religion as a net positive for society.
Seven-in-ten US adults think there is definitely or probably an afterlife, placing the US in the top third of the 36 countries surveyed, according to Pew Research Center.
Across 36 countries, a median of 77% of adults say religion mostly helps society while 19% say it mostly hurts, according to Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afterlife belief: US vs Netherlands / Germany / Sweden | 70% vs 51% / 50% / 38% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
How we compiled these statistics
Every figure on this page is traced to a primary Pew Research Center report and dated to the year the data was collected. Country-level daily-prayer, religious-importance, gender, affiliation, age, and afterlife figures come from Pew's 2024 global survey of 36 countries (41,503 adults interviewed in the 35 non-US countries from January to May 2024) and its US-comparison report. US-specific prayer, trend, gender, and race figures come from Pew's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, a different instrument from the global survey. Cross-country income associations come from Pew's Global God Divide, which we label as association rather than cause and date to its 2019 data. We traced all figures back to Pew primary pages rather than aggregators, and we exclude the retracted UK "Quiet Revival" data.
Wherever you land on these numbers, building a daily prayer habit is a personal choice. Pray Focus can help: generate a free, personalized prayer on any topic, then set aside time to pray each day by blocking distracting apps during your chosen prayer time.
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Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Pew Research Center, How spiritual and religious practices vary globally in 36 countries (May 2025)
- Pew Research Center, Spirituality and Religion: How the US Compares With 35 Other Countries (June 2025)
- Pew Research Center, Prayer, reading scripture and other religious practices among Americans, 2023-24 RLS (February 2025)
- Pew Research Center, Religious importance and affiliation rates in over 30 countries (May 2025)
- Pew Research Center, The Global God Divide (July 2020, 2019 data)
- Pew Research Center, What impact do people around the world think religion has on their society (January 2025)
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