Britain is one of the least “nature connected” nations in the world, according to the first ever global study of how people relate to the natural world.

Britain ranks 55th out of 61 countries in the study of 57,000 people, which looks at how attitudes towards nature are shaped by social, economic, geographical and cultural factors.

The most nature-connected nation is Nepal, followed by Iran, South Africa, Bangladesh and Nigeria, according to the study, which is published in the journal Ambio. Croatia and Bulgaria are the only European nations in the top 10, followed by France in 19th place.

Languishing below Britain are the Netherlands, English-speaking Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and Spain, which is the least nature-connected of the 61 nations surveyed.

Nature connectedness is a psychological concept that measures the closeness of an individual’s relationship with other species. Studies have found that people with higher levels of nature connectedness enjoy improved wellbeing and are more likely to act in environmentally friendly ways. Low levels of nature connectedness have been identified as one of three major underlying causes of biodiversity loss alongside inequality and the prioritisation of individual, material gains.

Researchers from Britain and Austria, led by Miles Richardson, professor of nature connectedness at the University of Derby, found the strongest indicator for a close relationship with nature was high levels of “spirituality” in a society. More religious societies and cultures where there was a preference for faith over science showed high levels of nature connection.

In contrast, the study also found that “ease of doing business” – a World Bank measurement of the business-friendly character of a country – was correlated with less nature connection.

Although Britain is believed to have one of the highest levels of membership of environmental organisations in the world, this apparently pro-nature indicator was found to have little impact on closeness to nature.

More concrete factors found by the study to be linked to a lack of connection with nature included levels of urbanisation, mean income and internet use.

“Nature connectedness is not just about what we do, but how we feel, think, and value our place in the living world,” said Richardson, who admitted he was not surprised that Britain languished so low in the nature connection league table.

“We’ve become a more rational, economic and scientific society. That’s obviously brought some fantastic benefits but it’s how we balance them with the unforeseen problems,” he said. “How do we reintegrate natural thinking in our very technological world? It’s obviously very difficult to change cultures but it’s about mainstreaming the value of nature, making it integral to our wellbeing, so it becomes respected and almost sacred.”

According to Richardson, ways of fostering nature connection could include better use of natural environments in NHS treatments of mental and public health; developing rights of nature in law, and bringing nature into boardrooms and business decisions through regulations such as biodiversity net gain.

He admitted the study revealed a tension between business and the environment. “We still need a functioning economy,” he said. “There’s ways we can rethink the way we do business – bringing nature into decision-making, nature in the boardroom, and biodiversity net gain. They can start to shift the system, where nature isn’t just simply treated as a resource but as a stakeholder.”

While bringing nature into urban areas might reinvigorate nature connection in very urban societies, Richardson added: “It’s not just about putting a park in. How do you create sacred urban nature? It’s easy to build a park but it needs to go deeper than that.”

The correlation between nature connection and “spirituality” in countries was discovered using measurements of the importance of religion, beliefs in a god and faith in different countries recorded by the World Values Survey.

Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich and lead for environmental affairs for the Church of England, said: “We’ve long known that getting out into nature is good for body, mind and soul. In the Gospels we keep encountering Jesus going out to be alone in nature to be with God; he notices the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. I believe that what we notice we begin to love, and what we love we come to treasure, and what we treasure we want to protect. It all starts with children and is why activities like forest school and wild church are important for people and nature.”