A new study by two George Washington University academics ranked 208 countries on what they have coined the ‘Islamicity index’.
The ranking is based on how closely a country is aligned with “Islamic teachings from the Quran and the life and sayings of the Prophet,” according to the study.
Ranking countries on their ‘Islamicity’ was actually easier than it would have been for say, Christianity, which isn’t quite as detailed with it’s code of conduct.
“Islam is a rules-based system explicitly affording detailed rules and guidelines,” explains the study.
The ‘Islamicity’ of a country is based on many factors: rule of law, human and civil rights, natural resource management, income distribution and eradication of poverty, among others.
Out of the 12 countries that have declared Islam as their state religion, the highest ranked is Malaysia (38).
Scandinavian countries Denmark (6) and Norway (12) rank quite high, while Islamic countries such as Qatar (112), Libya (196) and Iraq (201) generally rank very low.
New Zealand has the highest Islamicity Index, while the French Island Mayotte is at the bottom of the chart.
