The results of a wide-ranging study that surveyed the attitudes of people in as many as 35 countries suggest that happiness is tied to being religiously active.

Where Americans fit on that scale hops around a bit depending on the subject matter, according to the study, “Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World,” issued on Jan. 31 by the Pew Research Centre.

“We began with a more fundamental question about religion’s role in societal and individual well-being,” said Joey Marshall, lead researcher for Pew on the report. “That’s not a question we can definitively answer. We can’t prove religion makes people happier. But it’s an important and fundamental question.”

The research indicates, though, that happiness stretches across faith systems, as the countries surveyed embrace either Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Islam and eastern religions as their principal religion.

Respondents fall into one of three groups: the “actively religious,” those who identify with a religion and attend religious services at least once per month; the “inactives,” those who identify with a religion and attend less often; and the “unaffiliated,” those who do not identify with a religious group.

In a group of 26 nations, the United States tied for 14th in the percentage of religiously active people who say are “very happy.” 36% of religious Americans said as much, compared to 25% each for their counterparts who are religiously inactive or religiously unaffiliated.

But the 36% figure was just above half of top-finishing Mexico’s 71% of its religiously active population. Of the 26 nations surveyed, there were only seven where a higher percentage of the religiously inactive or unaffiliated reported being very happy compared to than the religiously active.

The United States finished second among 26 countries, behind only New Zealand, with 85% of the religiously active respondents saying they also are involved in some kind of nonreligious organization.

The U.S. finished 17th among 25 nations with 62% of religiously active respondents always voting in national elections.