The Role of Religion in Shaping Perceived Security in Central Asia

This article focuses on people’s perceptions of security in three Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Using the data from WVS (wave 7, 2017–2022), we sought to find how being religious is linked to people’s perceived security. First, our OLS model showed that being religious is differently linked to perceived security across the three states. Religious people feel more secure in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and not in Kazakhstan. In addition, the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition shows a statistically significant difference between religious and non-religious citizens in all three states.