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List of religious populations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main category: Religious demographics
This is a list of religious populations by number of adherents and countries.

Adherent estimates in 2012

Size of Major Religious Groups, 2012
ReligionPercent
Christianity
 
31.5%
Islam
 
23.2%
Unaffiliated
 
16.3%
Hinduism
 
15.0%
Buddhism
 
7.1%
Chinese Folk
 
5.9%
Other
 
0.8%
Judaism
 
0.2%
Pew Research Center, 2012[1]
Adherents.com says "Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number".[2]
ReligionAdherentsPercentage
Christianity2.4 billion[3]33.51%
Islam1.6 billion[4]22.32%
Hinduism1.15 billion16.06%
Secular[a]/Nonreligious[b]/Agnostic/Atheist≤1.1 billion15.35%
Chinese traditional religion[c]394 million5.50%
Buddhism376 million5.25%
Ethnic religions excluding some in separate categories300 million4.19%
African traditional religions100 million1.40%
Sikhism30 million0.32%
Spiritism15 million0.21%
Judaism14 million0.20%
Bahá'í7.0 million0.10%
Jainism4.2 million0.06%
Shinto4.0 million0.06%
Cao Dai4.0 million0.06%
Zoroastrianism2.6 million0.04%
Tenrikyo2.0 million0.02%
Neo-Paganism1.0 million0.01%
Unitarian Universalism0.8 million0.01%
Rastafari0.6 million0.01%
total7167 million100%

Notes

  1. Jump up^ These figures may incorporate populations of secular/nominal adherents as well as syncretist worshipers, although the concept of syncretism is disputed by some.
  2. Jump up^ Nonreligious includes agnostic, atheist, secular humanist, and people answering 'none' or no religious preference. Half of this group is theistic but nonreligious.[2] According to a 2012 study by Gallup International "59% of the world said that they think of themselves as religious person, 23% think of themselves as not religious whereas 13% think of themselves as convinced atheists".[5]
  3. Jump up^ Chinese traditional religion is described as "the common religion of the majority Chinese culture: a combination of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, as well as the traditional non-scriptural/local practices and beliefs."

By proportion

Christians

Countries with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country (as of 2010):
Christian population by country, June 2014.
  1.   Vatican City 100% (100% Roman Catholic)
  2.  Pitcairn Islands 100% (100% Seventh-day Adventist)[6]
  3.  Samoa ~99% (mostly Protestant)[7]
  4.  Romania 99% (mostly Romanian Orthodox)
  5.  American Samoa 98.3% (mostly Protestant)[8]
  6.  Malta 98.1%[9] (mostly Roman Catholic)
  7.  Venezuela 98%[10] (71% Roman Catholic)
  8.  Greece 98% [11] (95% Greek Orthodox)
  9.  Marshall Islands 97.2% (mostly Protestant)[12]
  10.  Tonga 97.2% (mostly Protestant)[13]
  11.  San Marino 97%[14] (~97% Roman Catholic)
  12.  Paraguay 96.9%[15] (mostly Roman Catholic)
  13.  Peru 96.5%[16] (mostly Roman Catholic)
  14.  El Salvador 96.4% (mostly Roman Catholic)[17]
  15.  Kiribati 96% (mostly Protestant)[18]
  16.  Federated States of Micronesia ~96% (mostly Protestant)[19]
  17.  Barbados 95.1% (mostly Protestant)[20]
  18.  Papua New Guinea 94.8% (mostly Protestant)[21]
  19.  East Timor 94.2%[22][23] (mostly Roman Catholic)
  20.  Armenia 93.5%[24] (mostly Armenian Orthodox)

Muslims

See also: Muslim World
Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims from Islam by country (as of 2010) (figures excluding foreign workers in parenthesis):
Muslim population by country, 2014.
  1.  Maldives 100% (mostly Sunni)[25]
  2.  Mauritania 100% (mostly Sunni)
  3.  Saudi Arabia Reported to be 100%[26] (90–95% Sunni, 5–10% Shi'a[26])
  4.  Turkey 99.8% (75% Sunni, 25% Shi'a)[27]
  5.  Somalia 99.8% (mostly Sunni)[28]
  6.  Afghanistan ~99%[29] (mostly Sunni, 20% Shi'a)[30]
  7.  Yemen 99.1% (99.9%) (53% Sunni, 47% Shi'a[31])
  8.  Morocco 98.7% (mostly Sunni)
  9.  Algeria 98.3%[32] (mostly Sunni)
  10.  Iran 98% (mostly Shi'a)[33]
  11.  Tunisia 98% (mostly Sunni)
  12.  Comoros 98% (mostly Sunni)[34]
  13.  Pakistan 97%[35] (85% Sunni, 15% Shi'a)[36]
  14.  Sudan 97%[37] (mostly Sunni)
  15.  Libya 96.6% (99%)[38] (Sunni)
  1.  Iraq 95% (Mostly Shi'a)[39]
  2.  Kuwait 95% (Mostly Sunni)[40]
  3.  Djibouti 94% (mostly Sunni)[41]
  4.  Niger 93% (mostly Sunni)[42]
  5.  Azerbaijan 91.6[43] (mostly Shi'a)[44]
  6.  Bangladesh 89.4% (Sunni)[45]
  7.  Egypt 89.3% (Sunni)[46]
  8.  Indonesia 87.18% (99% Sunni)[47]
  9.  Bahrain 79%[48] (Mostly Shi'a)[31]
Remarks: Saudi Arabia does not include other religious beliefs in their census, the figures for these other religious groups could be higher than reported in the nation. While conversion to Islam is among its most supported tenets, conversion from Islam to another religion is considered to be the sin of apostasy[49] and could be subject to the penalty of death in the country.

Irreligious and atheist

See also: Irreligion by country
Nonreligious population by country, 2006.[50][51]
Countries with the greatest proportion of people without religion (including agnostics and atheists) from Irreligion by country (as of 2007):
  1.  Czech Republic 70-81% (78%)
  2.  Estonia 71–82% (76%)
  3.  Japan 64–88% (76%)[52]
  4.  Denmark 72%
  5.  Sweden 46–82% (64%)
  6.  Vietnam 44–81% (63%)
  7.  Macau 62%[53]
  8.  Hong Kong 57%[54]
  9.  France 43–64%[55] (54%)
  10.  Norway 31–72% (52%)
  11.  China 47%[56] (details)
  12.  Netherlands 39–55% (47%)
  13.  Finland 28–60% (44%)
  14.  New Zealand 42%[57]
  15.  United Kingdom 31–52% (42%)[55]
    1.  England and  Wales 25% [58]
  16.  South Korea 30–52% (41%)
  17.  Germany 25[59]–55%[60] (40%)
  18.  Hungary 32–46% (39%)
  19.  Belgium 42–43% (39%)
  20.  Bulgaria 34–40% (37%)
  21.  Slovenia 35–38% (37%)
  22.  Russia[61] 13–48% (31%)
Remarks: Ranked by mean estimate which is in brackets. Irreligious includes agnostic, atheist, secular believer, and people having no formal religious adherence. It does not necessarily mean that members of this group don′t belong to any religion. Some religions have harmonized with local cultures and can be seen as a cultural background rather than a formal religion. Additionally, the practice of officially associating a family or household with a religious institute while not formally practicing the affiliated religion is common in many countries. Thus, over half of this group is theistic and/or influenced by religious principles, but nonreligious/non-practicing and not true atheists or agnostics.[2] See Spiritual but not religious.

Hindus

Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus from Hinduism by country (as of 2010):
Hindu population by country, 2013.
  1.    Nepal 81.3%[62]
  2.  India 79.8%[63]
  3.  Mauritius 54%[64]
  4.  Fiji 33.7%[65]
  5.  Guyana 28%[66]
  6.  Bhutan 25%[67]
  7.  Suriname 22.3%[68]
  8.  Trinidad and Tobago 18.2%[69]
  9.  United Arab Emirates 15%[70]
  10.  Sri Lanka 12.6%[71]
  11.  Kuwait 12%[72]
  12.  Bangladesh 9.6%[73]
  13.  Bahrain 8.1%[74]
  14.  Réunion 6.7%[75]
  15.  Malaysia 6.3%[76]
  16.  Singapore 5.1%
  17.  Oman 3%
  18.  Seychelles 2.1%[77]
  19.  New Zealand 2.0%[78]
  20.  Pakistan 1.8%
  21.  Indonesia 1.7%[79]
  22.  USA 0.7%[80]

Buddhists

Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists from Buddhism by country (as of 2010):[81]
Buddhist population by country, 2010.

Taoists/Confucianists/Chinese traditional religionists

As a spiritual practice, Taoism has made fewer inroads in the West than Buddhism and Hinduism. Despite the popularity of its great classics the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching, the specific practices of Taoism have not been promulgated in America with much success;[82] these religions are not ubiquitous worldwide in the way that adherents of bigger world religions are, and they remain primarily an ethnic religion. Nonetheless, Taoist ideas and symbols such as Taijitu have become popular throughout the world through Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong, and various martial arts.[83]
  1.  Taiwan 33–80%[84]
  2.  China 30%[85]
  3.  Hong Kong 28%[54]
  4.  Macau 13.9%[53]
  5.  Singapore 8.5%[86]
  6.  Malaysia 2.6%[87]
  7.  South Korea 0.2–1%[88]
  8.  Vietnam
  9.  Philippines 0.01–0.05%
  10.  Indonesia 0.05%
The Chinese traditional religion has 184,000 believers in Latin America, 250,000 believers in Europe, and 839,000 believers in North America as of 1998.[89][90]

Ethnic and indigenous

All of the below come from the U.S. Department of State 2009 International Religious Freedom Report,[91] based on the highest estimate of people identified as indigenous or followers of indigenous religions that have been well-defined. Due to the syncretic nature of these religions, the following numbers may not reflect the actual number of practitioners.
  1.  Haiti 50%[92]
  2.  Guinea-Bissau 50%
  3.  Cameroon 40%
  4.  Togo 33%[93]
  5.  Côte d'Ivoire 25%
  6.  Sudan 25%[94]
  7.  Benin 23%
  8.  Burundi 20%
  9.  Burkina Faso 15%
  10.  New Zealand 15%[95]
  11.  South Africa 15%[96]
  12.  Democratic Republic of the Congo 12%
  13.  Central African Republic 10%
  14.  Gabon 10%
  15.  Lesotho 10%
  16.  Nigeria 10%
  17.  Sierra Leone 10%[97]
  18.  Indonesia 9%[98]
  19.  Kenya 9%
  20.  Palau 9%[99]
  21.  Ghana 8.5%
  22.  Guinea 5%

Sikhism

Countries with the greatest proportion of Sikhs:
  1.  India 1.9%
  2.  United Kingdom 1.2%[100][101]
  3.  Canada 0.9%[102]
  4.  Malaysia 0.5%[103]
  5.  Fiji 0.3%[104]
  6.  Singapore 0.3%[105]
  7.  United States 0.2%[106][107]
  8.  New Zealand 0.2%[108]
  9.  Australia 0.1%[109][110]
  10.  Italy 0.1%[111]
The Sikh homeland is the Punjab state, in India, where today Sikhs make up approximately 61% of the population. This is the only place where Sikhs are in the majority. Sikhs have emigrated to countries all over the world – especially to English-speaking and East Asian nations. In doing so they have retained, to an unusually high degree, their distinctive cultural and religious identity. Sikhs are not ubiquitous worldwide in the way that adherents of larger world religions are, and they remain primarily an ethnic religion. But they can be found in many international cities and have become an especially strong religious presence in the United Kingdom and Canada.[112]

Judaism

Jewish population by country, 2010.
Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2010):
  1.  Israel 75.4%[113]
  2.  Palestine (West Bank only) 12–14% [114]
  3.  Monaco 2.9%[115]
  4.  United States 2.1%[116]
  5.  Gibraltar 2.1%
  6.  Cayman Islands 1.7%[117]
  7.  Netherlands Antilles^ 1.3%
  8.  Canada 1.1%
  9.  France 0.8%[118]
  10.  Argentina 0.6%[119]
  11.  Uruguay 0.5%[120]
  12.  Australia 0.5%
  13.  Hungary 0.5%[121]
  14.  U.S. Virgin Islands 0.5%[121]
  15.  Latvia 0.3%[121]
  16.  Germany 0.25%[59]
  17.  Netherlands 0.2%[122]
  18.  New Zealand 0.2%[121]
  19.  Ukraine 0.2%[121]
  20.  Russia 0.09%[123]

Spiritism

  1.  Cuba 10.3%
  2.  Jamaica 10.2%
  3.  Brazil 4.8%
  4.  Suriname 3.6%
  5.  Haiti 2.7%
  6.  Dominican Republic 2.2%
  7.  The Bahamas 1.9%
  8.  Nicaragua 1.5%
  9.  Trinidad and Tobago 1.4%
  10.  Guyana 1.3%
  11.  Venezuela 1.1%
  12.  Colombia 1.0%
  13.  Belize 1.0%
  14.  Honduras 0.9%
  15.  Puerto Rico 0.7%
  16.  Panama 0.5%
  17.  Iceland 0.5%
  18.  Guadeloupe 0.4%
  19.  Argentina 0.2%
  20.  Guatemala 0.2%
Note that all these estimates come from a single source. However, this source gives a relative indication of the size of the Spiritist communities within each country.

Bahá'ís

Main article: Bahá'í statistics
Countries with the greatest proportion of Bahá'ís (as of 2010) with a national population ≥200,000:
  1.  Belize 2.5% (The 2010 Belize Population Census recorded 202 Bahá'ís out of a total population of 304,106,[125][126] yielding a proportion of 0.066%)
  2.  Bolivia 2.2%
  3.  Zambia 1.8%
  4.  Mauritius 1.8% (The 2011 Mauritius census recorded 639 Bahá'ís out of a total population of 1,236,817[127] yielding a proportion of 0.05%)
  5.  Guyana 1.6% (The 2002 Guyana census recorded 500 Bahá'ís out of a total population of 751,223[128] yielding a proportion of 0.067%)
  6.  Vanuatu 1.4%
  7.  Barbados 1.2% (The 2010 Barbados census recorded 178 Bahá'ís out of a total population of 250,010[129] yielding a proportion of 0.07%)
  8.  Trinidad and Tobago 1.2%
  9.  Panama 1.2%
  10.  Kenya 1.0%
  11.  Lesotho 0.9%
  12.  Papua New Guinea 0.9%
  13.  Réunion 0.9%
  14.  Chad 0.9%
  15.  Botswana 0.8%
  16.  Gambia 0.8%
  17.  Suriname 0.8%
  18.  Congo, Republic of the 0.6%
  19.  Solomon Islands 0.6%
  20.  Venezuela 0.6%
  • Remarks & Sources: "Most Baha'i Nations (2010)". QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2010. Retrieved 2013-08-20. which used the "World Christian Database" for adherents estimates based on information provided by the World Christian Encyclopedia and "World Christian Trends". A source whose only systematic flaw was to consistently have a higher estimate of Christians than other cross-national data sets.[130] See "The Largest Baha'i Communities". Largest Religious Communities. Adherents.com. 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-20. for 2000 estimates among all nations. Various census figures of some of these countries vary significantly. See Bahá'í statistics.

Jainism

  1.  India 0.3%
  2.  Suriname 0.3%
  3.  Fiji 0.2%
  4.  Kenya 0.2%

By population

Christians

Largest Christian populations (as of 2011):
  1.  United States 229,157,250[131] (details)
  2.  Brazil 169,213,130[132]
  3.  Russia 114,198,444[133]
  4.  Mexico 106,204,560[134]
  5.  Nigeria 80,510,000[135]
  6.  Philippines 78,790,000[136]
  7.  China 67,070,000[135]
  8.  Democratic Republic of the Congo 63,150,000[135]
  9.  France 55,948,600
  10.  Italy 55,832,000
  11.  Ethiopia 51,477,950
  12.  Germany 50,752,580[137]
  13.  Colombia 44,502,000
  14.  Ukraine 41,973,000
  15.  South Africa 40,243,000
  16.  Spain 38,568,000
  17.  Poland 36,526,000
  18.  Kenya 33,625,790
  19.  Argentina 33,497,100
  20.  United Kingdom 33,200,417
  21.  Uganda 29,943,000
  22.  India 28,436,000
  23.  Venezuela 28,340,790
  24.  Peru 27,365,100
  25.  Indonesia 24,123,000

Muslims

Muslim population by country, 2009.
Largest Muslim populations (as of 2017):
  1.  Indonesia 245,000,000[79]
  2.  Pakistan 203,000,000
  3.  India 182,000,000
  4.  Bangladesh 142,937,800
  5.  Nigeria 90,000,000
  6.  Iran 73,238,340
  7.  Egypt 70,056,000
  8.  Turkey 70,036,838
  9.  Algeria 36,092,810
  10.  Morocco 31,351,800
  11.  Afghanistan 30,112,680
  12.  Sudan 30,064,180
  13.  Iraq 29,767,300
  14.  Ethiopia 28,120,050
  15.  Saudi Arabia 26,624,560
  16.  Uzbekistan 25,628,240
  17.  Yemen 23,836,523
  18.  China 20,095,870
  19.  Syria 19,601,750
  20.  Malaysia 17,085,402

Buddhists

Largest Buddhist populations
  1.  China 244,130,000
  2.  Thailand 64,420,000
  3.  Japan 45,820,000
  4.  Burma 38,410,000
  5.  South Korea 10,500,000
  6.  India 9,250,000
  7.  Malaysia 5,010,000
  8.  Sri Lanka 4,450,000
  9.  Vietnam 4,380,000
  10.  Cambodia 3,690,000
  11.  Indonesia 1,710,000

Hindus

Largest Hindu populations (as of 2010):
  1.  India 957,636,314
  2.    Nepal 21,354,570
  3.  Bangladesh 14,274,430
  4.  Indonesia 4,012,470[79]
  5.  Pakistan 2,603,895
  6.  Sri Lanka 2,554,606
  7.  Malaysia 1,700,100
  8.  United States 1,543,730
  9.  United Arab Emirates 1,239,610
  10.  South Africa 749,870
  11.  Mauritius 665,820
  12.  United Kingdom 630,000
  13.  Canada 497,960
  14.  Tanzania 403,570
  15.  Kuwait 328,440
  16.  Australia 275,500
  17.  Singapore 264,370
  18.  Fiji 261,097[65]
  19.  Trinidad and Tobago 240,100[69]
  20.  Myanmar 203,000[138]
  21.  Bhutan 177,100
  22.  Germany 120,000

Jews

Largest Jewish populations (as of 2011):
  1.  United States 6,588,065[139]
  2.  Israel 5,907,500[140]
  3.  France 493,600
  4.  Canada 375,000[121]
  5.  United Kingdom 291,000[121]
  6.  Russia 194,000[121]
  7.  Argentina 181,800[121]
  8.  Germany 119,000[121]
  9.  Australia 97,300[141]
  10.  Brazil 95,300[121]
  11.  Ukraine 70,200[121]
  12.  South Africa 67,000[121]
  13.  Hungary 48,200[121]
  14.  Mexico 39,200[121]
  15.  Belgium 30,000[121]
  16.  Italy 28,200[121]
  17.  Chile 18,500[121]
  18.  Turkey 17,400[121]
  19.  Uruguay 17,300[121]
  20.  Belarus 12,000[121]

Sikhs

Largest Sikh populations
  1.  India 22,892,600
  2.  UK 853,000
  3.  Canada 620,200
  4.  USA 500,010
  5.  Malaysia 120,000
  6.  Bangladesh 100,000[142]
  7.  Australia 72,300
  8.  Italy 70,000
  9.  Thailand 70,000
  10.  Myanmar 70,000
  11.  United Arab Emirates 50,000
  12.  Germany 40,000
  13.  Mauritius 37,700
  14.  Australia 72,300
  15.  Pakistan 50,000
  16.  Kenya 20,000
  17.  Kuwait 20,000
  18.  Philippines 20,000
  19.  New Zealand 17,400
  20.  Indonesia 15,000
  21.  Singapore 14,500

Bahá'ís

Largest Bahá'í populations (as of 2010) in countries with a national population ≥200,000:[143]
  1.  India 1,897,651 (The 2011 Census of India recorded 4,572 Bahá'ís[144][145])
  2.  United States 512,864
  3.  Kenya 422,782
  4.  Vietnam 388,802
  5.  Congo, Democratic Republic of the 282,916
  6.  Philippines 275,069
  7.  Iran 251,127
  8.  Zambia 241,112
  9.  South Africa 238,532
  10.  Bolivia 215,359
  11.  Tanzania 190,419
  12.  Venezuela 169,811
  13.  Uganda 95,098
  14.  Chad 94,499
  15.  Pakistan 87,259
  16.  Burma (Myanmar) 78,915
  17.  Colombia 70,504
  18.  Malaysia 67,549
  19.  Thailand 65,096
  20.  Papua New Guinea 59,898

Jainism

As of 2005:[146]
  1.  India 5,146,697
  2.  United States 79,459
  3.  Kenya 68,848
  4.  United Kingdom 16,869
  5.  Canada 12,101
  6.  Tanzania 9,002
  7.    Nepal 6,800
  8.  Uganda 2,663
  9.  Burma 2,398
  10.  Malaysia 2,052
  11.  South Africa 1,918
  12.  Fiji 1,573
  13.  Japan 1,535
  14.  Australia 1,449
  15.  Suriname 1,217
  16.  Réunion 981
  17.  Belgium 815
  18.  Yemen 229

See also

Religions: