US Religion Census

Brief Description

The Dataset provides data about the distribution of different religious traditions.

Religious Diversity

Measure Description

Religious Tradition Diversity (consider non-religious people as a tradition)

Measure Calculation

Simpson Index

\[D = 1 - \left( \frac{\sum n(n-1)}{N(N-1)} \right)\]

Where:

• n = the total number of organisms of a particular species

• N = the total number of organisms of all species

Interpretation: Simpson’s Diversity Index is a measure of diversity which takes into account the number of species present, as well as the relative abundance of each species. As species richness and evenness increase, so diversity increases. It is also the probability of picking two random individuals which are not of the same group.

Religious Diversity

From the dataset, we summarise the dataset by the number of adherents across different religious traditions. Calculate the Simpson Index for different traditions (species) using the formula above.