More than 40% of people – that’s at least four out of ten – believe that “some people are capable of throwing curses or perform magic that results in bad things happening to someone.’ American research shows that belief in various magical practices is unexpectedly widespread worldwide, although with wide variations from country to country.

Boris Gersman of the American University in Washington, who made the publication in the scientific journal “PLoS One”, analyzed data on more than 140,000 people in 95 countries, which was obtained from in-person and telephone interviews. The study estimates that at least one billion people on Earth believe in witchcraft in one way or another, to a greater or lesser degree.

In the past several studies have shown that the idea that some people have supernatural abilities and can cause harm to others is widespread. The new research is the most comprehensive of its kind and shows that religious people and women are more prone to witchcraft than men.

However, such magical beliefs exist in all socio-demographic groups. People with higher educational and economic levels are less likely to believe in magicalthough the difference is not large: people in “very good” financial conditions are only 6% to 7% less likely to believe in witchcraft than those in “very poor” financial conditions.

Differences from country to country

However, there are big differences from country to country. For example only 9% of Swedes believe in witchcraft compared to 90% of Tunisians. Various cultural, institutional, psychological and socio-economic factors affect belief in witchcraft differently. Indicatively, the weaker the modern institutions in a country, the lower the levels of social trust among citizens, the lower the level of innovation and the more conformist a culture is, the more the tendency to believe in magic in a country increases. the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.

In any case, he points out, we may be in the 21st century, but “as research shows, magical beliefs remain widespread around the world.” A survey by the Pew Research Center found in 2021 that the belief that people can (successfully) curse someone is accepted by believers of most major religions (Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, etc.).