Wealth and Re ligiosity Among Catho lics North America
In order to compare the religiosity of Catholic publics in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., we constructed an index based on three questions: whether faith in God is necessary for living a moral life, the importance of religion in respondents’ lives, and a how often respondents pray.2 The scale ranges from “0,” the least religious position, to “3,” the most religious position. Among the 13 nations included in the analysis, Brazilian Catholics have the highest religiosity score (2.45), and the top six spots all belong to Latin American countries.
Latin American Catholics tend to cluster in the upper left of the chart, indicating their low levels of wealth and high levels of religiosity, while those in Western Europe show up in the lower right as the result of their prosperity and lower scores on the religiosity index. Most countries appear in the chart about where their stage of economic development would predict. For example, on this chart, Argentina does not look like an outlier; instead, it falls precisely where it should given its comparative wealth in relation to other Latin American nations.
Wealth and Re ligiosity Among Catho lics  | North America  | Latin America  | Western Europe  | 2.5  | Brazil  | Eastern Europe Europe  | I E is 5  | Peru  | 2  | Bolifia  | Mexico  | 1.5  | Venezuela  | Chile  | ULS  | Slovakia  | Germany  | Poland  | Argentina  | Italy  | 0.5  | France  | 10,000  | 20,000  | 30 1000  | 40 1000  | 50,000  | Per Capita GDP (Standardized) 