Which Religious Groups are the Most Educated?

By WRN Editorial Staff --
15 Dec 2016 --

Muslims and Hindus are the lowest educated groups, but both are making gigantic leaps in increasing their education levels.

The most highly educated are the Jews, followed by Christians, while the groups that receive the least higher education are Muslims and Hindus. However, education in these groups is rising steadily, especially among their women. The findings are brought to us by a global demographic study by the Pew Research Center.

Which Religious Groups are the Most Educated?[/tweetthis]

There are two patterns that this research has brought up. One, the high education levels of certain groups could be attributed to the fact that they are concentrated in countries that are well-developed. However, educational discrepancies are also found between people of two religions in the same country and region itself. For example, the reason that education is highest among Jews could be because the small community is mostly concentrated in the US and Israel, both being countries that are highly developed. However, in certain regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, there are discrepancies in the educational levels of Christians and Muslims. This gap could be attributed to other factors, however, such as

Education is lowest in Muslim and Hindu communities. Within these communities, there is a huge discrepancy in education levels between sexes. However, the most striking fact is that it is these two communities who have made the largest leaps in education is the past few years. Both communities have even made phenomenal progress in educating their women as well.

When we break down this progress, we see that rise in the number of years in formal years of education among Muslims and Hindus is around 7%. This means that, when compared to the older generations, the number of years that young people from these communities spend in education has increased by 7%. Christians have increased their education years only by one year, and the Jews by less than a year.

Globally, one in five adults has received no formal schooling at all. Twice as many Hindu and Muslim adults have received no formal education. There has been a growing reversal in the gender gaps in the younger generation of Jews, Christians and the unaffiliated.