Opinion on evolution in Latin America

"Overall, Latin Americans embrace the idea that humans and other living things have evolved over time." That was the upshot of a Pew Research Center survey on "Religion in Latin America" (PDF) which included a question about evolution: "Thinking about evolution, which comes closer to your view? Human beings and other living things have evolved over time, or humans at other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."

Preferring the evolution answer were 74% of Uruguayans, 71% of Argentinians, 69% of Chileans, 66% of Brazilians, 65% of Puerto Ricans, 64% of Mexicans, 63% of Venezuelans, 61% of Panamanians, 59% of Colombians and Paraguayians, 56% of Costa Ricans, 55% of Guatemalans, 51% of Peruvians, 50% of Ecuadorians, 49% of Hondurans, 47% of Nicaraguans, 46% of Salvadorans, 44% of Bolivians, and 41% of Dominicans.

The report noted that, "Catholics tend to be more accepting of evolution than are Protestants," with 20-point differences in the percentages of Catholics and Protestants who accept evolution in Peru and Venezuela. Urban respondents were generally more likely to accept evolution than rural respondents; respondents with more formal education were generally more likely to accept evolution than respondents with less formal education.

The survey was conducted between November 2013 and March 2014. According to the report, "The survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International ... . The survey is based on samples of non-institutionalized adults ages 18 and older." For each country, the sample size was at least 1500, with margins of error between plus/minus 2.8 points and plus/minus 4 points.