Hindus Gain As Many As They Lose Through Religious Switching: Pew Research Center Survey

This came as a new Pew Research Center report, conducted a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults fielded between late 2019 and early 2020 – before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Woman lighting diyas during Diwali, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India | Getty

Amid the controversy in several states with regard to religious conversion, a recent survey has found that religious switching has a minimal impact on the size of religious groups.

This came as a new Pew Research Center report conducted a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults fielded between late 2019 and early 2020 – before the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Around 98 percent of respondents in the survey, which was conducted by local interviewers in 17 languages and covered nearly all of India’s states and Union Territories, gave the same answer when asked to identify their current religion and their childhood religion.

Religious Switching Rate

The survey found that an overall pattern of stability in the share of religious groups is accompanied by little net change from movement into, or out of, most religious groups.

Among Hindus, for instance, any conversion out of the group is matched by conversion into the group. As per the Pew Research Center survey, 0.7% of respondents say they were raised Hindu but now identify as something else and around 0.8% informed that they were not raised Hindu but now identify as Hindu.

In other words, Hindus have gained as many people from conversion as they have lost in the conversion. 

The religious switching was equal for the Muslims. As per the Pew Research Center survey, 0.3% of respondents say they were raised Muslim but now identify as something else, and around the same percentage say they were not raised as Muslims now identify as Muslims.

The survey, however, found there are some net gains from conversion for the Christians. Around 0.4% of respondents are former Hindus who now identify themselves as Christian, while 0.1% were raised Christian have since left their childhood religion.

The survey, which took a closer look at religious identity, nationalism, and tolerance in Indian society, overall found religious conversion is rare in India to the extent it is occurring.