Christians and Muslims are the two largest religious groups in the world and are more geographically dispersed than smaller groups.

In 2018, Christians reportedly experienced harassment in 145 countries, up from 143 countries in 2017, Pew reported.

The study looks at the year 2018 and finds that the global median level of government restrictions on religion — laws, policies and actions by officials that impinge on religious beliefs and practices — continued to climb, reaching an all-time high since the Pew Research Center began tracking these trends in 2007.

The increase from 2017 to 2018 was relatively modest, but it contributed to a substantial rise in government restrictions on religion over more than a decade.

In 2007, the first year of the study, the global median score on the Government Restrictions Index (a 10-point scale based on 20 indicators) was 1.8. After some fluctuation in the early years, the median score has steadily risen since 2011 and now stands at 2.9 for 2018, the most recent full year for which data is available.

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