What do Mississippians have in common with folks from Lebanon? You may be surprised, a new Gallup poll suggests.

Over a three-year period, the organization Gallup asked people in 143 countries and territories whether religion -- any religion -- was an important part of their daily lives.

As measured against people from other countries, the median number of Americans who say that religion is important in their daily lives is 65 percent. That compares to a global median of 82 percent, Gallup said.

In the U.S., Mississippians led the list for the most people, 85 percent, who said religion is an important part or their lives. Alabama was second, with 82 percent, and South Carolina was third, with 80 percent.

Those three states are on par with Lebanon, at 86 percent, Iran, with 83 percent and Zimbabwe, at 81 percent.

In Vermont, 42 percent said religion played an important part in their daily lives -- the least of any state. New Hampshire was second lowest, with 46 percent, and Maine was third from bottom, with 48 percent.

Overseas, the Swiss, at 42 percent, were on a par with New Hampshire. South Korea and Canada were second lowest, with 45 percent.

Of the 10 nations in which almost everyone said religion played an important part in their daily lives, most are poorer nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Of the 10 nations in which almost everyone said that religion plays the least important part in their everyday lives, several hace some of the world's highest living standards.

"These data only compare the importance of religion in people's lives -- they say nothing about what being highly religious means in different parts of the world and among different faiths," Gallup said in comments accompanying the data. "Nonetheless, it's fascinating to note that in terms of religiosity, Americans span a range that invites comparisons to some predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and tribal societies in Southern Africa, as well as to some relatively secular nations in Europe and developed East Asia."

The global results were based on telephone and face-to-face interviews conducted in 2006, 2007, and 2008 with about 1,000 adults in each country, and the results from each country have a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, Gallup said.

The U.S findings were based on telephone interviews with 355,334 adults, ages 18 and older, conducted in 2008. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1-4 percentage points.

Read more about the Gallup poll here.