List of religious populations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Of the 6,450,000,000 people on Earth as of June 2005, as published by the United States Census Bureau, 5,208,000,000 followed world's five largest religions (non religious numbers given for comparison).
Estimates:
- Christianity - 2.1 billion (January 2007 est.)
- Islam - 1,313 billion (2006 est., CIA)[1]
- Buddhism - 1.4 billion (March 2007 est.)
- Atheist / Non Religious - 937 million (2006 est., CIA)[1]
- Hinduism - 870 million (2006 est., CIA)[1]
Adherents sometimes give much higher figures for example:
After the largest religions there are significant populations of a number of smaller religions. Notably:
- Sikhism: 25 million (2006 est., CIA)[1]
- Judaism: 15 million (2006 est., CIA)[1]
- Bahá'í: 7 million (2000 est., WCE)[2] (and see Demographics)
- Jainism: 4.2 million (??)
- Shinto: 4 million (??)
- Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million (??)
Note that these figures may incorporate populations of secular/nominal adherents as well as syncretist worshipers, although the concept of syncretism is disputed by some.
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Countries with the greatest proportion of Christians (as of 2002):
- Vatican City, 100% (Roman Catholic 100%)
- San Marino, 99% (Roman Catholic 99%)
- Armenia, 98.7% Orthodox
- Greece, 98% (Orthodox 97.0%, Roman Catholic 1.0%, Muslim 1.3%)
- Romania, 97.5% (Orthodox 86.8%, Roman Catholic 5.4%, Other Christian 5.2%)
- Poland, 97.2% (mostly Roman Catholic)
- Portugal, 97% (mostly Roman Catholic)
- Mexico, 95% (Roman Catholic 90%, other Christian 5%)
- Tuvalu, 94.5% (Church of Tuvalu 93%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.5%)
- Argentina, 94% (mostly Roman Catholic, Jewish 2%)
- East Timor, 93% (Roman Catholic 90%, Protestant 3%)
- Croatia, 92.6% (Roman Catholic 87.8%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%)
- Ireland, 92.5% (mostly Roman Catholic)
- Costa Rica, 92% (Roman Catholic 76.3%, Evangelical 13.7%, other Protestant 2%)
- Ukraine, 92% (mostly Orthodox)
- Philippines, 92% (Roman Catholic 90%, other Christian 2%, Muslim 3%)
- Italy, 91.1% (mostly Roman Catholic)
- Brazil, 89% (mostly Roman Catholic)
- France, 81% (Roman Catholic 51%, Muslim 8%, Jewish 1%)
- Spain, 80.4% (mainly Roman Catholic)
Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims (as of 2005):
- Maldives, 99.9%
- Mauritania, 99.8%
- Western Sahara, 99.8%
- Saudi Arabia, 99.7%
- Somalia, 99.3%
- Algeria, 99%
- Afghanistan, 99%
- Yemen, 99%
- Oman, 99%
- Morocco, 98.7%
- Iran, 98%
- Tunisia, 98%
- Comoros, 98%
- Turkey, 97.4%
- Iraq, 97%
- Libya, 97%
- Pakistan, 96%
- Djibouti, 94%
- Jordan, 94%
- Tajikistan, 85%
Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus (as of 2005):
- India, 80% (Muslim 14%, Sikh 2%, Christian 2.4%)
- Nepal, 72.2%
- Mauritius, 52%
- Guyana, 34%
- Fiji, 33.7%
- Suriname, 27.4%
- United Arab Emirates, 25%
- Trinidad and Tobago, 23.8%
- Sri Lanka, 12%
- Bangladesh, 10.5%
- Bahrain, 7.7%
- Malaysia, 5%
- Singapore, 3%
- Pakistan, 3%
- Philippines, 2%
- Indonesia, 2%
- Bhutan, 1.5%
- South Africa 1.2%
- United Kingdom, 1%
Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists (as of 2006):
- Mongolia, 99.3%
- Bhutan, 98%
- Thailand, 97%
- Cambodia, 96.5%
- Japan, 96%
- Taiwan, 95.5%
- Hong Kong, 95%
- Myanmar, 93%
- Vietnam, 92%
- Laos, 91.8%
- Macau, 91%
- Christmas Island, 90%
- Sri Lanka, 81%
- China, 77%
- Singapore, 61%
- North Korea, 60%
- South Korea, 50.7%
- Malaysia, 44%
- Brunei, 36%
- Nepal, 33% Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2005):
- Israel, 76.2% (Muslim 16.1%, Christian 2.1%)
- Nauru 9.22%
- Tonga 6.09%
- Tuvalu 5.86%
- Kiribati 4.70%
- Tokelau 4.33%
- Cocos Islands 3.72%
- Bolivia 3.25%
- Falkland Islands 2.98%
- Vanuatu 2.78%
- Belize 2.73%
- Samoa 2.37%
- Guyana 2.09%
- United Arab Emirates 1.95%
- Sao Tome and Principe 1.88%
- Mauritius 1.84%
- Zambia 1.70%
- Dominica 1.61%
- Micronesia 1.61%
- Niue 1.53%
- Marshall Islands 1.50%
Sources: Year 2000 Estimated Baha'i statistics from: David Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000; Total population statistics, mid-2000 from Population Reference Bureau [2] and The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2004.
Largest Christian populations (as of 2002)[citation needed]:
- United States, 189,983,000
- Brazil, 175,405,000
- Mexico, 96,614,000
- Philippines, 72,225,000
- Germany, 60,712,000
- Nigeria, 54,012,000
- Italy, 47,704,000
- France, 45,505,000
- Ethiopia, 45,000,824
- D.R. Congo, 42,283,000
Largest Muslim populations (as of 2005)[citation needed]:
- Indonesia, 182,570,000
- India, 138,000,000
- Pakistan, 134,480,000
- Bangladesh, 114,080,000
- Turkey, 65,510,000
- Iran, 62,430,000
- Egypt, 58,630,000
- Nigeria, 53,000,000
- Algeria, 30,530,000
- Morocco, 28,780,000
Remarks: 1) China's Muslim population is estimated to be over 37,000,000 by many estimates but lower according to the Chinese government. [3]Largest Hindu populations (as of 2003)[citation needed]:
- India, 816,000,000
- Nepal, 13,300,000
- Bangladesh, 12,600,000
- Indonesia, 4,800,000
- Sri Lanka, 3,000,000
- Malaysia, 1,600,000
- Mauritius, 650,000
- United Kingdom, 500,000
- Fiji, 335,000
- Trinidad and Tobago, 280,000
Remarks: 1) Hindus include the Yoga practitioners in the population which may have 50 million practitioners in the United States. There are around 150 million who practice Yoga worldwide. After including Yoga practitioners, Hinduism has around 1.1 billion followers worldwide. 2)75% Hindu at Fiji refers to Indo-Fijians who make up 44% of the population, while ethnic Fijians are mostly Christian (acc. to: Fiji).Largest Buddhist populations (as of 2006):
- China, 1,005,861,635
- Japan, 122,320,554
- Vietnam, 76,852,730
- Thailand, 63,481,040
- Myanmar, 39,905,802
- South Korea, 24,654,419
- Taiwan, 21,864,136
- Sri Lanka, 16,252,469
- Cambodia, 13,896,861
- North Korea, 13,747,306
- India, 10,953,520
- Malaysia, 10,539,380
- Nepal, 9,133,261
- Hong Kong, 6,115,851
- United States, 5,973,446
- Laos, 5,707,335
- Singapore, 2,789,009
- Mongolia, 2,773,882
- Philippines, 2,635,724
- Indonesia, 2,419,739
Largest national Bahá'í populations (as of 2000):
- India 1,716,148
- United States 753,423
- Iran 463,151
- Vietnam 356,133
- Kenya 308,292
- Bolivia 269,246
- South Africa 255,775
- Philippines 229,522
- D.R. Congo 224,596
- Zambia 162,443
- Thailand 144,243
- Venezuela 141,072
- Tanzania 140,593
- Malaysia 97,078
- Chad 80,683
- Myanmar 79,044
- Pakistan 78,658
- Uganda 66,546
- Colombia 64,758
- Cameroon 64,286
Source: Year 2000 Estimated Baha'i statistics from: David Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000; Total population statistics, mid-2000 from Population Reference Bureau [4]
Remarks:
1) Because officially atheist Communist governments still rule a number of traditionally Buddhist countries and also because Buddhists often also practice other traditional East Asian religions, the figures could also be much higher. China alone could add an additional 250 million or more in this way. Similarly, the figures for Vietnam and North Korea may be higher, while Japan could easily add another million.
- Buddhism by country
- Hinduism by country
- Islam by country
- Judaism by country
- Roman Catholicism by country
- Protestantism by country
- Christianity by country