Return On Investment
The Pew Charitable Trusts applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civic life, as these recent accomplishments illustrate.
Improving Public Policy
Honduras details ambitious conservation commitments to coastal wetlands
In January, the government of Honduras committed to coastal wetland conservation, restoration, and management in its latest nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement. Honduras’ NDC outlines ambitious, science-based targets that include accomplishing the following by 2035: increasing the country’s protected marine coastal areas by 5%, establishing a baseline of its seagrasses, restoring at least 10% of its mangroves, and maintaining or improving the ecological integrity of at least 65% of conservation areas. These commitments are significantly more ambitious than Honduras’ last NDC submission in 2021. Pew’s advancing coastal wetlands conservation project will continue to support Honduras in implementing these targets, including through exploring potential financing opportunities.
New Utah court for high-volume civil cases has bipartisan support
Debt collection and eviction cases dominate the civil court docket, underscoring the need for states to implement more equitable court processes. In March, Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) signed a bipartisan bill that will create a statewide court dedicated to hearing debt collection and eviction cases. This Collections and Housing Court is intended to provide a more consistent and streamlined approach to managing those cases. Supporters such as the nonprofit Utah Bar Foundation pointed to analyses from Pew’s courts and communities project about the impact of debt and eviction litigation in the state, which highlighted procedural barriers and uneven outcomes. The bill’s passage advances the project’s goal of helping states leverage data to identify and address opportunities for court reform.
Informing the Public
Study ranks religious diversity around the world
Singapore is the world’s most religiously diverse nation as of 2020, followed by Suriname and Taiwan, according to a Pew Research Center study published in February. The analysis ranked 201 countries and territories from zero (a country composed of a single religious group) to 10 (a country with even distributions of all seven groups included in the study). The United States ranks 32nd globally in religious diversity but places first among the world’s 10 most populous countries. Since 2010, the U.S. has become more religiously diverse, largely due to a 14-percentage-point drop in the Christian majority and a corresponding rise in the religiously unaffiliated population.
The least diverse countries are Yemen, Afghanistan, and Somalia, where Muslims make up 99.8% or more of the population. Globally, it is common for national populations to consist primarily of a single religious group: In 194 of the 201 places analyzed, at least 50% of the population belongs to just one religious category. The study was part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which tracks religious change and its impact globally.
Invigorating Civic Life
Pew data informs Philadelphia mayor, media outlets
Pew continues to provide Philadelphia leaders with data indicating that the city is on track to achieving measurable reductions in homicides. In her Dec. 15, 2025, “State of the City” address, Mayor Cherelle Parker (D) said that Philadelphia is outpacing a national trend toward fewer killings and that residents are feeling safer—citing data from Pew’s analysis “Philadelphia’s Homicides at Historic Lows,” which found that the city’s per capita homicide rates are the lowest they’ve been in more than a decade, as well as a Pew survey, “Pew Poll: Philadelphians Concerned About Public Safety and Financial Well-Being.” The mayor commented, “This isn’t idle rhetoric; this is data from The Pew Charitable Trusts, national experts.” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s coverage of the city’s homicide rates also cited Pew’s analysis and poll. Mayor Parker referenced Pew again in her March 12 budget address, when discussing Philadelphia’s progress.
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