placestats

Hours worked (PWT) vs. Religion very important

Fades 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 96 countries, Hours worked (PWT) and Religion very important rise and fall together at r = +0.60 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.42, which could easily be chance (q = 0.10, allowing for the many pairs tested, and allowing for countries in the same region being alike). So the first figure mostly shows richer countries differing from poorer ones, not a link between these two things.

Comparing countries across the middle half of religion very important, 15.5% to 69.8% of respondents, hours worked (PWT) is 335 hours per year higher at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 269 hours per year.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.601p = 9.1e-11 · 96 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.415p = 2.9e-5 · likely range [+0.23, +0.57]
p, allowing for regions0.065standard error 0.184 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.100across 18,622 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.

Hours worked (PWT) · hours per yearlink with income -0.40 · moderate
Religion very important · % of respondentslink with income -0.66 · high

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

Every country as a dot

Hours worked (PWT) · hours per year →Religion very important · % of respondents →1,3352,4833.25%98.9%Albania: 2,152 hours per year, 24.4% of respondentsArgentina: 1,612 hours per year, 24.3% of respondentsArmenia: 1,976 hours per year, 52.7% of respondentsAustralia: 1,611 hours per year, 13.8% of respondentsAustria: 1,438 hours per year, 13.9% of respondentsAzerbaijan: 1,791 hours per year, 15.9% of respondentsBelgium: 1,593 hours per year, 13.2% of respondentsBurkina Faso: 2,356 hours per year, 82.9% of respondentsBangladesh: 2,383 hours per year, 94.2% of respondentsBulgaria: 1,659 hours per year, 21.9% of respondentsBosnia and Herzegovina: 2,122 hours per year, 39.8% of respondentsBelarus: 1,875 hours per year, 19.7% of respondentsBolivia: 1,968 hours per year, 58.4% of respondentsBrazil: 1,994 hours per year, 45.1% of respondentsCanada: 1,731 hours per year, 15.5% of respondentsSwitzerland: 1,529 hours per year, 11.3% of respondentsChile: 1,950 hours per year, 20.7% of respondentsChina: 2,328 hours per year, 3.25% of respondentsColombia: 2,471 hours per year, 58.4% of respondentsCyprus: 1,840 hours per year, 50.5% of respondentsCzechia: 1,774 hours per year, 7.67% of respondentsGermany: 1,335 hours per year, 13.5% of respondentsDenmark: 1,380 hours per year, 5.73% of respondentsAlgeria: 2,232 hours per year, 90.7% of respondentsEcuador: 1,594 hours per year, 53.6% of respondentsEgypt, Arab Rep.: 2,369 hours per year, 97.3% of respondentsSpain: 1,638 hours per year, 17.2% of respondentsEstonia: 1,606 hours per year, 6.54% of respondentsEthiopia: 1,599 hours per year, 92.8% of respondentsFinland: 1,497 hours per year, 11% of respondentsFrance: 1,487 hours per year, 14.3% of respondentsUnited Kingdom: 1,523 hours per year, 15.6% of respondentsGeorgia: 1,932 hours per year, 69.6% of respondentsGhana: 1,656 hours per year, 91.1% of respondentsGreece: 1,893 hours per year, 54.8% of respondentsGuatemala: 2,151 hours per year, 51.5% of respondentsHong Kong SAR, China: 2,240 hours per year, 10.7% of respondentsCroatia: 1,974 hours per year, 20.6% of respondentsHungary: 1,668 hours per year, 16.1% of respondentsIndonesia: 1,958 hours per year, 98.1% of respondentsIndia: 2,383 hours per year, 64.2% of respondentsIreland: 1,654 hours per year, 27.7% of respondentsIran, Islamic Rep.: 2,246 hours per year, 70.5% of respondentsIraq: 1,583 hours per year, 87.6% of respondentsIceland: 1,452 hours per year, 13.2% of respondentsItaly: 1,701 hours per year, 24.9% of respondentsJordan: 2,483 hours per year, 95.4% of respondentsJapan: 1,654 hours per year, 4.58% of respondentsKazakhstan: 1,975 hours per year, 28.7% of respondentsKenya: 2,035 hours per year, 86.7% of respondentsKyrgyz Republic: 1,830 hours per year, 56% of respondentsKorea, Rep.: 1,910 hours per year, 10.3% of respondentsKuwait: 2,318 hours per year, 86.5% of respondentsLebanon: 2,412 hours per year, 64.1% of respondentsLithuania: 1,640 hours per year, 12.2% of respondentsLuxembourg: 1,452 hours per year, 16.8% of respondentsLatvia: 1,625 hours per year, 8.84% of respondentsMorocco: 2,174 hours per year, 89% of respondentsMoldova: 1,989 hours per year, 32.9% of respondentsMexico: 1,629 hours per year, 50.5% of respondentsNorth Macedonia: 1,949 hours per year, 53.7% of respondentsMali: 2,243 hours per year, 88.2% of respondentsMalta: 1,848 hours per year, 58.7% of respondentsMyanmar: 2,197 hours per year, 81% of respondentsMalaysia: 2,308 hours per year, 72.4% of respondentsNigeria: 2,062 hours per year, 93.4% of respondentsNetherlands: 1,439 hours per year, 11.9% of respondentsNorway: 1,412 hours per year, 11.2% of respondentsNew Zealand: 1,708 hours per year, 14.5% of respondentsPakistan: 2,471 hours per year, 89.6% of respondentsPeru: 2,143 hours per year, 44.6% of respondentsPhilippines: 2,096 hours per year, 88.9% of respondentsPoland: 1,807 hours per year, 37.3% of respondentsPortugal: 1,735 hours per year, 20.1% of respondentsQatar: 2,435 hours per year, 98.9% of respondentsRomania: 1,826 hours per year, 48.2% of respondentsRussian Federation: 2,087 hours per year, 17.4% of respondentsRwanda: 1,584 hours per year, 40.3% of respondentsSingapore: 2,283 hours per year, 34% of respondentsSerbia: 1,995 hours per year, 25.3% of respondentsSlovak Republic: 1,621 hours per year, 22.2% of respondentsSlovenia: 1,588 hours per year, 11.5% of respondentsSweden: 1,432 hours per year, 9.48% of respondentsThailand: 2,177 hours per year, 41.8% of respondentsTajikistan: 2,134 hours per year, 63.1% of respondentsTrinidad and Tobago: 1,610 hours per year, 78.5% of respondentsTunisia: 2,288 hours per year, 90.6% of respondentsTurkiye: 1,747 hours per year, 60% of respondentsUkraine: 2,045 hours per year, 19.5% of respondentsUruguay: 1,481 hours per year, 19.5% of respondentsUnited States: 1,789 hours per year, 37.1% of respondentsUzbekistan: 2,099 hours per year, 45.1% of respondentsViet Nam: 2,160 hours per year, 12.3% of respondentsSouth Africa: 2,181 hours per year, 55.8% of respondentsZambia: 2,200 hours per year, 75.7% of respondentsZimbabwe: 2,311 hours per year, 87.7% of respondentsCHNDEUDNKETHGHAHKGIRQJORNORPAKQATVNM

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.6019.1e-1196
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.6001.1e-1096
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.4152.9e-596
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.3770.00096

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 96 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: +0.186 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.337 (without QAT) to +0.459 (without CHN). 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 (-0.078).

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+0.19
Europe & Central Asia46+0.32
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan12+0.33

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 third32+0.18
Middle third32+0.19
Richest third32+0.71

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
Christians58+0.26
Muslims25+0.43

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 colony14-0.14
United Kingdom23+0.46

By official ideology

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
Nationalist16+0.67
No strong official ideology67+0.46

By party system

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
A few parties banned12+0.03
No parties banned74+0.40

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 = +0.415 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


hours per year
% of respondents		Years
Jordan JOR2,48395.4%2023, 2022
Pakistan PAK2,47189.6%2023, 2022
Colombia COL2,47158.4%2023, 2022
Qatar QAT2,43598.9%2023, 2014
Lebanon LBN2,41264.1%2023, 2022
Bangladesh BGD2,38394.2%2023, 2022
India IND2,38364.2%2023, 2022
Egypt, Arab Rep. EGY2,36997.3%2023, 2022
Burkina Faso BFA2,35682.9%2023, 2010
China CHN2,3283.25%2023, 2022
Kuwait KWT2,31886.5%2023, 2014
Zimbabwe ZWE2,31187.7%2023, 2022
Malaysia MYS2,30872.4%2023, 2022
Tunisia TUN2,28890.6%2023, 2022
Singapore SGP2,28334%2023, 2022

Feenstra, Robert C., Robert Inklaar and Marcel P. Timmer (2015), "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table", American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-3182, www.ggdc.net/pwt. Data: Penn World Table version 11.0, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, doi:10.34894/FABVLR.
Haerpfer, C. et al., World Values Survey; EVS, European Values Study

Sources

Hours worked (PWT)

Average annual hours worked per person engaged (Penn World Table)

Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen · via DataverseNL · CC BY 4.0 · updated irregular (new versions every few years)

Hours actually worked in a year, averaged over everyone with a job, including the self-employed and part-timers. It measures the same thing as the OECD hours measure, and for countries in both the two mostly agree. This one is kept because it reaches much further: about 130 countries each year from 2010 to 2023, where the OECD series has 38 countries and stops in 2016. Before 2000 it covers mainly rich countries. No "better" direction is set.

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 18,622 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated V-Dem v16; V-Party v2. How the country data works · explore Hours worked (PWT) and Religion very important

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Hours worked (PWT) changes Religion very important, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Hours worked (PWT) or Religion very important