Research Reveals Youth Is More Religious in Georgia than Older Generations
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, June 19
The survey of the Pew Research Center revealed that young people in Georgia are more religious than older generations.
The information was released by the Guardian, which reports that analysis of 106 nations finds Ghana and Georgia are only places where those under 40 are more religious than older people.
The Guardian reports that in 46 out of 106 countries surveyed by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, people between 18 and 39 are less likely to say religion is very important to them than adults over 40.
However, Georgia and Ghana are the only two countries where young people aged 18-39 are more religious than those aged 40 and above.
“Younger adults in Georgia say religion is very important to them more often than older adults do. Georgia has experienced a secessionist war in Abkhazia and a conflict with Russia in the past three decades, although the fall of the Soviet Union may also be a factor in religious differences by age,” the Pew Research Center stated.
The report reads that older adults in Georgia mostly came of age during the Soviet period, when religion was repressed – including by Georgian-born leader Joseph Stalin, which is likely the main reason why young people are more religious than older generations.
At the same time, other countries have experienced conflict during the same period and do not show these types of patterns.
The report - The Age Gap in Religion Around the World, says that a common explanation is that “new generations become less religious in tandem with economic development – as collective worries about day-to-day survival become less pervasive and tragic events become less frequent.
The report notes that the most religious areas of the world are experiencing the fastest population growth, due to high fertility rates and relatively young populations.
