placestats

Gender Inequality Index vs. Religion very important

Holds up after adjusting for income

A country is not a person. Countries where more people are counted as belonging to this group also tend to differ on the other measure, and that is all. It does not follow that the people in the group are the people with the different score. Making that leap is called the ecological fallacy: reading a pattern across places as a fact about individual people. It is the most common misuse of this kind of data. Religion also varies strongly with region, history and national income, so much of what looks religious here is really those. That is what the adjusted figures are for. The religion shares are estimates for two years only, and the survey questions are asked in rounds that can be ten years apart.

Across 100 countries, Gender Inequality Index and Religion very important rise and fall together at r = +0.75 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.54 (q = 0.026, allowing for the many pairs tested). Much of the first figure is that both measures rise with national income, but a moderate positive link remains.

Comparing countries across the middle half of religion very important, 15.8% to 71% of respondents, gender inequality index is worse by 0.238 points at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 0.106 points.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.745p = 6.3e-19 · 100 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.536p = 1.1e-8 · likely range [+0.38, +0.66]
p, allowing for regions0.003standard error 0.115 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.026across 12,497 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Gender Inequality Index · index, 0 to 1link with income -0.89 · proxy
Religion very important · % of respondentslink with income -0.66 · high

Both of these rise and fall closely with national income, so a strong link between them before adjusting was close to certain. Read the adjusted figure, not the first one.

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Gender Inequality Index · index, 0 to 1 →Religion very important · % of respondents →0.0030.6773.25%98.9%Albania: 0.107 index, 0 to 1, 24.4% of respondentsArgentina: 0.264 index, 0 to 1, 24.3% of respondentsArmenia: 0.18 index, 0 to 1, 52.7% of respondentsAustralia: 0.056 index, 0 to 1, 13.8% of respondentsAustria: 0.033 index, 0 to 1, 13.9% of respondentsAzerbaijan: 0.315 index, 0 to 1, 15.9% of respondentsBelgium: 0.031 index, 0 to 1, 13.2% of respondentsBurkina Faso: 0.555 index, 0 to 1, 82.9% of respondentsBangladesh: 0.487 index, 0 to 1, 94.2% of respondentsBulgaria: 0.208 index, 0 to 1, 21.9% of respondentsBosnia and Herzegovina: 0.157 index, 0 to 1, 39.8% of respondentsBelarus: 0.08 index, 0 to 1, 19.7% of respondentsBolivia: 0.419 index, 0 to 1, 58.4% of respondentsBrazil: 0.39 index, 0 to 1, 45.1% of respondentsCanada: 0.052 index, 0 to 1, 15.5% of respondentsSwitzerland: 0.01 index, 0 to 1, 11.3% of respondentsChile: 0.102 index, 0 to 1, 20.7% of respondentsChina: 0.132 index, 0 to 1, 3.25% of respondentsColombia: 0.393 index, 0 to 1, 58.4% of respondentsCyprus: 0.252 index, 0 to 1, 50.5% of respondentsCzechia: 0.088 index, 0 to 1, 7.67% of respondentsGermany: 0.057 index, 0 to 1, 13.5% of respondentsDenmark: 0.003 index, 0 to 1, 5.73% of respondentsAlgeria: 0.443 index, 0 to 1, 90.7% of respondentsEcuador: 0.358 index, 0 to 1, 53.6% of respondentsEgypt, Arab Rep.: 0.398 index, 0 to 1, 97.3% of respondentsSpain: 0.043 index, 0 to 1, 17.2% of respondentsEstonia: 0.061 index, 0 to 1, 6.54% of respondentsEthiopia: 0.497 index, 0 to 1, 92.8% of respondentsFinland: 0.021 index, 0 to 1, 11% of respondentsFrance: 0.034 index, 0 to 1, 14.3% of respondentsUnited Kingdom: 0.083 index, 0 to 1, 15.6% of respondentsGeorgia: 0.257 index, 0 to 1, 69.6% of respondentsGhana: 0.514 index, 0 to 1, 91.1% of respondentsGreece: 0.103 index, 0 to 1, 54.8% of respondentsGuatemala: 0.48 index, 0 to 1, 51.5% of respondentsCroatia: 0.074 index, 0 to 1, 20.6% of respondentsHaiti: 0.618 index, 0 to 1, 28% of respondentsHungary: 0.213 index, 0 to 1, 16.1% of respondentsIndonesia: 0.423 index, 0 to 1, 98.1% of respondentsIndia: 0.403 index, 0 to 1, 64.2% of respondentsIreland: 0.054 index, 0 to 1, 27.7% of respondentsIran, Islamic Rep.: 0.482 index, 0 to 1, 70.5% of respondentsIraq: 0.558 index, 0 to 1, 87.6% of respondentsIceland: 0.024 index, 0 to 1, 13.2% of respondentsItaly: 0.043 index, 0 to 1, 24.9% of respondentsJordan: 0.433 index, 0 to 1, 95.4% of respondentsJapan: 0.059 index, 0 to 1, 4.58% of respondentsKazakhstan: 0.182 index, 0 to 1, 28.7% of respondentsKenya: 0.526 index, 0 to 1, 86.7% of respondentsKyrgyz Republic: 0.34 index, 0 to 1, 56% of respondentsKorea, Rep.: 0.038 index, 0 to 1, 10.3% of respondentsKuwait: 0.188 index, 0 to 1, 86.5% of respondentsLebanon: 0.36 index, 0 to 1, 64.1% of respondentsLibya: 0.253 index, 0 to 1, 97.9% of respondentsLithuania: 0.07 index, 0 to 1, 12.2% of respondentsLuxembourg: 0.044 index, 0 to 1, 16.8% of respondentsLatvia: 0.117 index, 0 to 1, 8.84% of respondentsMorocco: 0.438 index, 0 to 1, 89% of respondentsMoldova: 0.146 index, 0 to 1, 32.9% of respondentsMaldives: 0.309 index, 0 to 1, 95.7% of respondentsMexico: 0.358 index, 0 to 1, 50.5% of respondentsNorth Macedonia: 0.112 index, 0 to 1, 53.7% of respondentsMali: 0.612 index, 0 to 1, 88.2% of respondentsMalta: 0.111 index, 0 to 1, 58.7% of respondentsMyanmar: 0.478 index, 0 to 1, 81% of respondentsMontenegro: 0.121 index, 0 to 1, 63.1% of respondentsMongolia: 0.284 index, 0 to 1, 8.76% of respondentsMalaysia: 0.172 index, 0 to 1, 72.4% of respondentsNigeria: 0.677 index, 0 to 1, 93.4% of respondentsNicaragua: 0.408 index, 0 to 1, 60% of respondentsNetherlands: 0.013 index, 0 to 1, 11.9% of respondentsNorway: 0.004 index, 0 to 1, 11.2% of respondentsNew Zealand: 0.082 index, 0 to 1, 14.5% of respondentsPakistan: 0.536 index, 0 to 1, 89.6% of respondentsPeru: 0.34 index, 0 to 1, 44.6% of respondentsPhilippines: 0.351 index, 0 to 1, 88.9% of respondentsPoland: 0.081 index, 0 to 1, 37.3% of respondentsPortugal: 0.076 index, 0 to 1, 20.1% of respondentsQatar: 0.195 index, 0 to 1, 98.9% of respondentsRomania: 0.227 index, 0 to 1, 48.2% of respondentsRussian Federation: 0.169 index, 0 to 1, 17.4% of respondentsRwanda: 0.394 index, 0 to 1, 40.3% of respondentsSingapore: 0.031 index, 0 to 1, 34% of respondentsSerbia: 0.117 index, 0 to 1, 25.3% of respondentsSlovak Republic: 0.176 index, 0 to 1, 22.2% of respondentsSlovenia: 0.042 index, 0 to 1, 11.5% of respondentsSweden: 0.007 index, 0 to 1, 9.48% of respondentsThailand: 0.288 index, 0 to 1, 41.8% of respondentsTajikistan: 0.258 index, 0 to 1, 63.1% of respondentsTrinidad and Tobago: 0.262 index, 0 to 1, 78.5% of respondentsTunisia: 0.238 index, 0 to 1, 90.6% of respondentsTurkiye: 0.227 index, 0 to 1, 60% of respondentsUruguay: 0.218 index, 0 to 1, 19.5% of respondentsUnited States: 0.169 index, 0 to 1, 37.1% of respondentsUzbekistan: 0.291 index, 0 to 1, 45.1% of respondentsViet Nam: 0.299 index, 0 to 1, 12.3% of respondentsSouth Africa: 0.388 index, 0 to 1, 55.8% of respondentsZambia: 0.524 index, 0 to 1, 75.7% of respondentsZimbabwe: 0.519 index, 0 to 1, 87.7% of respondentsDNKHTIIRQKWTLBYMLIMNGNGANORQATSWEVNM

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.7456.3e-19100
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.7605.1e-20100
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.5361.1e-8100
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.5272.1e-8100

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 100 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.209 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.496 (without QAT) to +0.562 (without LBY). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: QAT (-0.040).

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific13+0.66
Europe & Central Asia46+0.38
Latin America & Caribbean13+0.44
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan13+0.11

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third34+0.32
Middle third33+0.38
Richest third33+0.82

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians60+0.44
Muslims27+0.52

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Never a European colony15+0.45
Spain12+0.15
United Kingdom25+0.51

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.536 after dropping 0 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 0years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Not enough history inside each country to look at this over time. That needs countries measured for several years in a row, and at least one of these measures is measured too rarely.

The data


index, 0 to 1

% of respondents
Years
Nigeria NGA0.67793.4%2023, 2022
Haiti HTI0.61828%2023, 2014
Mali MLI0.61288.2%2023, 2010
Iraq IRQ0.55887.6%2023, 2022
Burkina Faso BFA0.55582.9%2023, 2010
Pakistan PAK0.53689.6%2023, 2022
Kenya KEN0.52686.7%2023, 2022
Zambia ZMB0.52475.7%2023, 2010
Zimbabwe ZWE0.51987.7%2023, 2022
Ghana GHA0.51491.1%2023, 2014
Ethiopia ETH0.49792.8%2023, 2022
Bangladesh BGD0.48794.2%2023, 2022
Iran, Islamic Rep. IRN0.48270.5%2023, 2022
Guatemala GTM0.4851.5%2023, 2022
Myanmar MMR0.47881%2023, 2022

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2025
Haerpfer, C. et al., World Values Survey; EVS, European Values Study

Sources

Gender Inequality Index

Gender Inequality Index

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report Office · via Our World in Data · CC BY 3.0 IGO · updated annual

Built from deaths in childbirth, births to teenagers, seats in parliament, secondary schooling, and the share of women and men in the workforce. Five of those inputs are on the site and flagged. It is kept out of the gender score, for the same reason the HDI is kept out of the economy score.

Religion very important

Share saying religion is very important in their life

World Values Survey Association and European Values Study · via Our World in Data · Free for non-commercial use with attribution · updated irregular (survey waves, roughly every 5 years)

The strongest of four answers. The others are "rather", "not very" and "not at all" important. Thinking religion is important is different from attending services, and the gap between them is the interesting part. The United States reports high importance while attendance falls. Several Catholic countries show the reverse. No "better" direction is set, for the same reason as attendance. The survey runs in waves, not every year.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2010–2023. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 12,497 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Gender Inequality Index and Religion very important

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Gender Inequality Index changes Religion very important, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Gender Inequality Index or Religion very important