The debate of whether religious affiliation has any impact on other aspects of our lives is on-going. With so many people identifying as either religiously affiliated or non-religious, many different stances on the question have been formed. Some people truly believe religiosity is key to happiness and prosperity in life, while others wholeheartedly believe religion is useless and has a negative impact on society. While all people are entitled to their opinion on such a personal matter, research has been done to give us some answers.
According to a study done in 2010, there is a correlation between religious affiliation and self-described levels of happiness. Those who attended weekly religious services on a regular basis were nearly twice as likely to describe themselves as "very happy" while those who never attended were more likely to describe themselves as very unhappy. This does not indicate that religious affiliation is the cause of this self-described happiness, but it should not be ignored that there is a positive trend in place.
Within the United States, there exists a positive trend between religious affiliation and health. Those who are religiously affiliated tend to lead longer lives with stronger immune systems and lower blood pressure. Religious service attendance serves as an anti-stress mechanism, which leads to lower blood pressure, which prevents heart disease. Religiosity can also result in optimism which aids physical and mental health in general. Because of this , it would seem that religiosity aids health, and in some ways it does; but this correlation does not apply when comparing religious countries with non-religious countries. Religious countries tend to be underdeveloped in comparison to secular countries. Because of this, religious countries have less money and therefore less benefits for health, education, and opportunities. To conclude, religion is not the cause for better health amongst those who are affiliated, but there is a positive correlation because of the benefits religious affiliation offers and these benefits often lead to better health.
The correlation between religious affiliation and wealth is a bit more complicated. As a whole, secular countries tend to have more money because the countries that are secular are more developed, while religious countries tend to be underdeveloped and less wealthy. This correlation is not consistent when measuring levels of wealth on an individual scale within countries.