Intense Filipino belief in the afterlife

According to a national survey by Social Weather Stations on April 7-11, 2018, 86 percent of adult Filipinos believe in life after death, 94 percent believe in heaven, and 83 percent believe in hell.

The intensity of Filipino belief in these matters was, in 2008, the highest of all Christian countries in the world having survey data. As of 2018, it is most likely one of the highest, if not still the highest.

This 2018 survey is the fourth Religion Module of the International Social Survey Program (www.issp.org), a cross-country network in which SWS has represented the Philippines since 1990. The earlier Religion Modules were in 1991, 1998 and 2008.

The ISSP central archive assembles all the country-surveys into a global dataset, that then becomes freely available worldwide. The 2018 Religion global dataset is not yet available since not all the member institutes have sent their survey data to the central archive yet. Each ISSP member finances its own survey, and may use and publish it any time after completion.

Belief in life after death, ISSP 2008. Here are the national proportions saying they either definitely believe or probably believe in life after death: Philippines 83; Ireland 79; Chile 79; United States 78; Cyprus  77; Poland 71; Italy 69; Israel 66; New Zealand 62; United Kingdom 61; Slovak Republic 61; Japan 59; Austria 58; Netherlands 54; Australia 53; Spain 48; Switzerland 48; Norway 47; Portugal 47; Slovenia 46; Russia 44; Latvia 44; France 44; Sweden 43; Germany 40; Denmark 38; Hungary 37; and Czech Republic 27.  (Note the non-Christian countries Israel and Japan.)

Belief in heaven, ISSP 2008. National proportions that definitely/probably believe in heaven: Philippines 93; United States 85; Ireland 83; Chile 81; Poland 73; Cyprus 68; Italy 66; Israel 65; United Kingdom 61; Slovak Republic 59; New Zealand 55; Australia 54; Portugal 50; Japan 49; Switzerland 48; Austria 47; Russia 47; Spain 45; Netherlands 43; Slovenia 39; Latvia 38; Norway 38; Hungary 36; Germany 35; Denmark 30; France 30; Sweden 28; and Czech Republic 23.

Belief in hell, ISSP 2008. National proportions that definitely/probably believe in hell: Philippines 83; United States 73; Poland 66; Cyprus 65; Israel 62; Chile 61; Italy 60; Ireland 54; Slovak Republic 52; Russia 47; United Kingdom 46; Australia, 44; Japan 43; Portugal 40; New Zealand 39; Slovenia 37; Austria 34; Latvia 33; Spain 32; Hungary 30; Switzerland 27; Germany 23; Netherlands 22; France 18; Czech Republic 18; Norway 16; Sweden 13; and Denmark, 12.

In ISSP 1998, in the Philippines, belief in life after death was 87 percent, belief in heaven was 96 percent, and belief in hell was 87 percent. These were the highest proportions among the 27 ISSP countries that year.

In the 16 countries covered by ISSP 1991, belief in life after death was highest in Ireland (80 percent), the United States (78) and Poland (76); the Philippines (76) came fractionally after Poland. The highest belief in heaven (91 percent) and in hell (77 percent) was in the Philippines.

Since Filipinos maintained their intensity of beliefs up to 2018, there is a good chance that they will maintain their ranking among the ISSP countries as a whole.

What about Muslims? The 2001 round of the World Values Survey (WVS) found the percentage believing in heaven at 100 in Algeria, Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt, at 99 in Bangladesh, Jordan, Nigeria and Egypt, and at 98 in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, compared to 95 in the Philippines.  Similar numbers on hell and the afterlife make it clear that Muslims hold very intense religious beliefs.

WVS rounds are few, however, because they are grandiose. Since social attitudes change, social surveys should be designed for affordable replication.

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