Europe & Russia

While either Christians or Muslims make up the largest religious group in nine-in-ten nations around the globe, the religiously unaffiliated rank second in size in most of the Americas and Europe, as well as in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

As the Obama White House and its NATO allies discuss their responses to Russia’s activities in Ukraine, Washington faces its own internal divisions, some of which are being reflected in the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign.

While Russians are downbeat about their economy, they still strongly support President Vladimir Putin, have increasingly negative views of Western countries and leaders, and are nostalgic for the Soviet era.

Our survey looks at the Ukraine-Russia conflict through the eyes of eight NATO countries and in Ukraine and Russia to gauge what ordinary people think about the crisis.

Publics of key NATO member nations blame Russia for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, but few support sending arms to Ukraine. And half of Russians see NATO as a military threat, while Ukrainians favor joining NATO.

There has been considerable debate over the country's Muslims and the role of extremism, but no backlash against Muslims in French public opinion.

Despite their increasingly upbeat economic mood, Europeans show growing support for nontraditional political parties critical of the EU.

In the wake of the euro currency crisis, public support for the EU and the belief that European economic integration was good for one’s country had declined precipitously across Europe, reaching a low point in 2013. But in 2015, favorable views of the EU and faith in the efficacy of creating a single market are generally rebounding in major EU member states.

At least one-in-five people in Japan, Germany and Italy are already aged 65 or older, and most other European countries are close behind.

The United States is turning gray, with the number of people ages 65 and older expected to nearly double by 2050. This major demographic transition has implications for the economy, government programs such as Social Security and families across the U.S.