From a moral point of view, is an extra-marital affair or the consumption of marijuana more acceptable? The use of contraceptives or alcohol consumption? Abortion or gambling? The answer, for the inhabitants of different countries, can be very different, for cultural, political, religious reasons, but also for gender, age and education. The Pew Research Center, an independent American research center, has just released the results of a new survey on morality in which people in 25 countries, including Italy, were asked whether various behaviors, including abortion and alcohol consumption, are morally unacceptable, morally acceptable or do not constitute a moral issue at all. Opinions on homosexuality, cheating and abortion show notable differences based on geography.
Participants in the survey, conducted in 2025, were also asked to rate the level of morality of their fellow countrymen. It emerged that, in almost all the countries involved, more people generally consider that their compatriots have a fairly or very good level of morality than those who say the opposite. But there is an exception, that of the United States. In fact, the survey shows that Americans are among the most “judgmental” and critical of the morality of others: it is the only case in which the majority of adults defined the morality of their compatriots as more bad (53%) than good (47%).
The nine behaviors taken into consideration by the survey
The behaviors on which the survey was carried out are nine, and concern in particular the sphere of sexuality and substance use. In particular, below:
- Extramarital affairs
- Homosexuality
- The use of contraceptives
- Abortion
- Divorce
- The consumption of marijuana
- The consumption of alcohol
- Consumption of pornographic content
- Gambling
The table below shows the median percentage for each of the behaviors or conditions on which the survey was done. The median, i.e. the central value in a list of all the percentages ordered from highest to lowest, was calculated on the responses of the 25 countries (excluding the one on pornography, in which India was not included) and is used to identify general patterns in the data, but each country has its own peculiarities.
The actions considered least morally acceptable and the most divisive
As you can see, there are some behaviors considered less morally acceptable extramarital affairsespecially in the United States, where 9 out of 10 people consider it morally wrong for a married person to have a lover. In Indonesia and Türkiye the percentage rises to 92%; in Germany, where it drops to 55%, and in France, at 53%, there is the lowest value. In Italy, they are unacceptable for 67% of people. The median across the 25 countries is therefore 77%.
On the other side, the use of contraceptives and divorce they are the most widely accepted behaviors: in almost all of the 25 countries involved, at least two thirds of adults defined them as acceptable or, even, not a moral issue. In Italy divorce is morally unacceptable for 12% of people, while the use of contraceptives for 5%.
The most divisive issues are homosexuality and abortion, but also gambling. Homosexuality it is considered morally wrong by 39% of US adults, compared to 5% of those living in Germany and Sweden, 93% in Indonesia and 96% in Nigeria. In Italy it is morally wrong for 12% of adults.
There are also different opinions on abortion: in the Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina) and African countries (Nigeria, Kenya) taken into consideration, half or more than half of adults consider it morally unacceptable. In almost all European countries involved, however, the majority of adults consider it acceptable, or not a moral issue. Abortion, in Italy, is considered morally wrong by 28% of people.
Gambling in 10 of the 25 countries is considered morally wrong (with 71% in Italy), while in another 10 it is morally acceptable or not a moral issue. For example, in Australia, where it is accepted by 25% of adults, and it is not a moral issue for 43%.
Finally, in Italy, the consumption of marijuana is morally unacceptable for 50% of adults; that of alcohol by 33% and that of pornographic content by 42%.
How opinions have changed over time, the differences by gender, age and education
The Pew Research Center had carried out a similar survey in 2013. Since then, opinion on divorce has generally softened, in the most striking case going from 59% of Kenyan adults who considered it morally wrong to the current 30% – in India, on the contrary, there was an increase from 53% to 65%. In Italy the percentage dropped from 18% to 12%. Homosexuality and abortion have also generally seen a decrease in the number of adults who consider them morally wrong. On the other issues there are very different oscillations.
In general, women are more inclined to consider behaviors as morally unacceptable with respect to men, for example with respect to the topic of pornography, but also gambling, alcohol and marijuana consumption. On the contrary, it is generally men, in the majority, who consider homosexuality morally unacceptable.
They are the ones who have the harshest judgments less educated adults and those of older age. For example, with respect to marijuana consumption, 19-25% of young adults consider it wrong, compared to double that of people over 40. Similar results are found with respect to pornography and alcohol consumption, gambling and homosexuality. On the contrary, it is more frequently adults between 18 and 39 who consider extramarital relationships to be wrong: for example in Canada, 85% of them consider them wrong, compared to 73% of those over 40.
How religion affects opinions
For those questions in which detail on religious groups is available, Christians are the most likely to consider each of the nine behaviors morally unacceptable, but with differences between one country and another, as happens for example with abortion: the majority of Christians in Africa, Latin America and the United States defined it as wrong, while in Europe the percentage varies from 40% in Spain to 7% in Sweden. Abortion is considered morally wrong by 93% of Indonesian Muslims, compared to 33% of Muslims in Israel.
Compared to Christian confessions, among the most interesting data is the opinion on homosexuality: in general Protestants are more inclined than Catholics in the same country to consider it wrong.
