Hindus Least Educated Religious Group Worldwide: Pew Survey

The global average for Hindus is 5.6 years of schooling.

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Hindus are among the lowest educated of all major religious groups around the world, a new Pew Research Center study has revealed.

The Hindu community has an average of 5.6 years of formal schooling, which is at par with Muslims around the world. The study, based on census and survey data from 151 countries, also found that Jews are the highest educated of all religious groups, followed by Christians and adults without religious affiliations.

The study found that 41 percent of Hindus have no formal education of any kind while only one in ten have post-secondary degrees.

Multiple Factors

The global average for Hindus is 6 years of schooling. About one in five adults globally – but twice as many Muslims and Hindus – have received no schooling at all.

The demographic study, published on 13 December, suggests that the difference in education levels can be attributed to the geographical location of these religious groups. For example, 98 percent of Hindu adults live in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, all of which are developing countries with low levels of education.

The study also found a gap in education with respect to genders within the religious groups. Formal education is lower among Hindu women, who have an average 4.2 years of schooling, while Hindu men reportedly enjoy 6.9 years of formal studying.

Yet, these disparities are disappearing, given that significant gains in the educational sphere have been recently made by Hindus and Muslims – the lowest performers in the study.

The study also reveals that Hindus and Muslims have made the biggest educational gains in comparison to the other groups. According to the findings, the youngest members of these two faith groups (those born between 1976 and 1985) have almost twice as many years of schooling as their oldest peers (those born between 1936 and 1955).

How Region Comes Into Play

Around 94 percent of the world’s Hindu population lives in India, where around 59% of Hindus have at least some formal schooling.

Hindus in India have relatively low educational attainment, a nationwide average of 5.5 years. They are more educated than the Muslims minority community but lag behind Christians, who are one of the smallest minorities.

“By contrast, fully 87% of Hindus living in North America hold post-secondary degrees – a higher share than any other major religious group in the region.”

In countries where Hindus are a small religious minority - like the US for example - the study found that the group recorded higher levels of education. Similarly, Muslims in Europe, for example, have more years of schooling, on average, than Muslims in West Asia.

This parity occurs due to various factors, including socioeconomic conditions, government resources, migration practices and policies, presence or absence of armed conflict, and things like child labour and marriage.

“For instance, in the US, where Christians make up the majority of the adult population, Hindus and Muslims are much more likely than Christians to have post-secondary degrees.”

(Source: Pew Research Center)