The list of religious populations article provides a comprehensive overview of the distribution and size of religious groups around the world. This article aims to present statistical information on the number of adherents to various religions, including major faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, as well as smaller religious communities. It also includes the percentage of nonreligious and atheistic populations.
The data is primarily sourced from organizations like the Pew Research Center, global surveys, census reports, and research studies, offering insights into the demographic composition of religious affiliations across different regions and countries. The list also explores trends in religious growth, decline, and shifts, reflecting the dynamic nature of religious adherence in the global context.
Pew Research Center made its "Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050" [2] based on 2010 baseline estimates. Although 2020 is already in the past, new estimates for 2020 are still work in progress. [3] Their methodology is published as an appendix. [4]
Countries and territories with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country, as of 2010 [update] :
Countries and territories with a considerable proportion of Muslims from Islam by country as of 2010 [update] , excluding foreign workers in brackets:
Data is based on the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life [26]
Countries with the greatest proportion of people without religion, including agnostics and atheists, from Irreligion by country (as of 2020 [update] ): [42]
Data is ranked by mean estimate in parentheses. Irreligious includes agnostic, atheist, secular people, and those having no formal religious adherence. It does not necessarily mean that those 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 religion, 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. See Spiritual but not religious .
Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus from Hinduism by country as of 2010 [update] :
Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists from Buddhism by country as of 2010 [update] : [70]
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 practice of Taoism has not been promulgated in America with much success; [74] 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, qigong, and various martial arts. [75]
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 1999 [update] . [83] [84]
Indigenous statistics come from the U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom Act (2009), [85] 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 numbers may not reflect the actual number of practitioners.
Countries with the greatest proportion of Sikhs:
The Sikh homeland is the Punjab state, in India, where Sikhs make up approximately 58% 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. [124] Sikhism is also the fastest growing religion in New Zealand and Australia. [125] [126]
Spiritist estimates come from a single source, which gives a relative indication of the size of the Spiritist communities within each country.
Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2017 [update] ): [128]
Largest Christian populations (as of 2011 [update] ):
Largest Muslim populations (as of 2017):
Largest Hindu populations (as of 2020): [156]
Largest Buddhist populations [161]
Largest Sikh population (as of 2023)
Largest Jewish populations (as of 2017 [update] ): [128]
Largest Baháʼí populations (as of 2010 [update] ) in countries with a national population ≥200,000: [217] [ better source needed ]
As of 2005 [update] , per ARDA: [218] [ better source needed ]
Religions:
Hindus are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent.
Muslims are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous revelations, such as the Tawrat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injeel (Gospel). These earlier revelations are associated with Judaism and Christianity, which are regarded by Muslims as earlier versions of Islam. The majority of Muslims also follow the teachings and practices attributed to Muhammad (sunnah) as recorded in traditional accounts (hadith).
Sikhs are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit word śiṣya, meaning 'seeker', 'disciple' or 'student'.
The United States had an official estimated resident population of 335,893,238 on Jan 1, 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This figure includes the 50 states and Washington, D.C. but excludes the population of five unincorporated U.S. territories as well as several minor island possessions. The United States is the third most populous country in the world, and the most populous in the Americas and the Western Hemisphere. The Census Bureau showed a population increase of 0.4% for the twelve-month period ending in July 2022, below the world average annual rate of 0.9%. The total fertility rate in the United States estimated for 2022 is 1.665 children per woman, which is below the replacement fertility rate of approximately 2.1. By several metrics, including racial and ethnic background, religious affiliation, and percentage of rural and urban divide, Illinois is the most representative of the larger demography of the United States.
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of civility in different societies, but this practice has since fallen into disrepute in many contemporary cultures.
The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman and Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome ." The church is also known by members as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit", among other names. According to Vatican II's Gaudium et spes, the "church has but one sole purpose–that the kingdom of God may come and the salvation of the human race may be accomplished."
Hinduism has approximately 1.2 billion adherents worldwide. Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world behind Christianity (31.5%) and Islam (23.3%).
There are 0.8 — 1.05 billion Protestants worldwide, among approximately 2.5 billion Christians. In 2010, a total of more than 800 million included 300 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 260 million in the Americas, 140 million in Asia-Pacific region, 100 million in Europe and 2 million in Middle East-North Africa. Protestants account for nearly forty percent of Christians worldwide and more than one tenth of the total human population. Various estimates put the percentage of Protestants in relation to the total number of the world's Christians at 33%, 36%, 36.7%, and 40%, while in relation to the world's population at 11.6% and 13%.
As of the year 2023, Christianity had approximately 2.4 billion adherents and is the largest religion by population. According to a PEW estimation in 2020, Christians made up to 2.38 billion of the worldwide population of about 8 billion people. It represents nearly one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world, with the three largest groups of Christians being the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with 1.3 billion baptized members. The second largest Christian branch is either Protestantism, or the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Religion has been a major influence on the societies, cultures, traditions, philosophies, artistic expressions and laws within present-day Europe. The largest religion in Europe is Christianity. However, irreligion and practical secularisation are also prominent in some countries. In Southeastern Europe, three countries have Muslim majorities, with Christianity being the second-largest religion in those countries. Ancient European religions included veneration for deities such as Zeus. Modern revival movements of these religions include Heathenism, Rodnovery, Romuva, Druidry, Wicca, and others. Smaller religions include Indian religions, Judaism, and some East Asian religions, which are found in their largest groups in Britain, France, and Kalmykia.
Asia is the largest and most populous continent and the birthplace of many religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. All major religious traditions are practiced in the region and new forms are constantly emerging. Asia is noted for its diversity of culture. Islam and Hinduisms are the largest religion in Asia with approximately 1.2-1.3 billion adherents each.
Religion in Italy has been historically characterised by the dominance of the Catholic Church, the largest branch of Christianity, since the East–West Schism. This is in part due to the importance of Rome in the history of the Church, including its historical status as a leading patriarchate and the presence of the Vatican, the Catholic Church's headquarters and the residence of the Pope—the Bishop of Rome—within its borders. However, due to immigration, notably the influx of Muslims, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Buddhists and Hindus, as well as proselytism and secularization, religious pluralism in Italy has increased in the 21st century. Italy also features a pre-Christian Jewish community, an autochthonous Protestant church–the Waldensian Evangelical Church and one of the largest shares of Jehovah's Witnesses in the world.
Islam in Asia began in the 7th century during the lifetime of Muhammad. In 2020, the total number of Muslims in Asia was about 1.3 billion, it is the largest religion in Asia. Asia constitutes in absolute terms the world's largest Muslim population. and about 62% of the world's Muslims live in Asia, with Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh having the largest Muslim populations in the world. Asia is home to the largest Muslim population, with West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia being particularly important regions. A number of adherents of Islam have lived in Asia especially in West Asia and South Asia since the beginning of Islamic history.
Religion in Greece is dominated by Christianity, in particular the Greek Orthodox Church, which is within the larger communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It represented 90% of the total population in 2015 and is constitutionally recognized as the "prevailing religion" of Greece. Religions with smaller numbers of followers include Islam, Western Catholicism, Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Evangelicalism, Hellenic paganism, and Jehovah's Witnesses. A small number of Greek atheists exist, not self-identifying as religious.
Most of the 25–30 million followers of Sikhism, the world's fifth-largest religion live in the northern Indian state of Punjab, the only Sikh-majority administrative division on Earth, but Sikh communities exist on every inhabited continent. Sizeable Sikh populations in countries across the world exist in India (20,833,116), Canada (~771,800), England (~520,100), the United States (~280,000), Italy (~220,000), and Australia (~210,400), while countries with the largest proportions of Sikhs include Canada (2.12%), India (1.72%), New Zealand (1.07%), Cyprus (~1.1%) England (0.92%), and Australia (0.83%).
This is an overview of religion by country or territory in 2010 according to a 2012 Pew Research Center report. The article Religious information by country gives information from The World Factbook of the CIA and the U.S. Department of State.
Christianity is the largest religion in Tanzania, professed by around 63.1% of the total population as of 2020. Protestantism and Catholicism are the main denominations in the country.
Earth has a human population of over 8 billion as of 2024, with an overall population density of 50 people per km2. Nearly 60% of the world's population lives in Asia, with more than 2.8 billion in the countries of India and China combined. The percentage shares of China, India and rest of South Asia of the world population have remained at similar levels for the last few thousand years of recorded history. The world's literacy rate has increased dramatically in the last 40 years, from 66.7% in 1979 to 86.3% today. Lower literacy levels are mostly attributable to poverty. Lower literacy rates are found mostly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Kosovo Agency of Statistics monitors various demographic features of the population of Kosovo, such as population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Censuses, normally conducted at ten-year intervals, record the demographic characteristics of the population. The latest census started on 5th of April 2024 and according to the preliminary results, the Republic of Kosovo has 1,586,659 inhabitants, of which 795,046 are men (50.1%) and 791,614 are women (49.9%). The same year, US CIA World Factbook estimate put the country's population at 1,977,093. According to the first census conducted after the 2008 declaration of independence in 2011, the permanent population of Kosovo was 1,810,366.
Adherents of Islam constitute the world's second largest and fastest growing major religious grouping, maintaining suggested 2017 projections in 2022. As of 2020, Pew Research Centre (PEW) projections suggest there are a total of 1.9 billion adherents worldwide. Further studies indicate the worldwide spread and percentage growth of Islam, may be attributed to high birth rates followed by a trend of worldwide adoption and conversion to Islam.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)it had chosen the city of Brixia because Italy had over 200,000 Sikhs living in the county with a majority in Brescia.
That it had chosen the city of Brixia because Italy had over 200,000 Sikhs living in it with a majority in Brescia
About 200,000 Sikhs live in different cities of Italy.
About 200,000 Sikhs live in different cities of Italy.
Italy has over 200,000 Sikhs who are active members of the Italian population, which is why this city was chosen
It is estimated that there are around 220,000 Sikh migrants in Italy. The community, however, has been largely invisible to native Italians. The majority of Sikhs are dairy workers, living far from the cities, and settled mainly in the farms of north and central Italy.
The total number of Indians in Italy has now crossed 200,000, making it the largest Indian diaspora in continental Europe and far greater than the 30,000 estimated in Spain. This Indian contingent is mainly made up of Punjabi Jat Sikhs.
Today, Italy has the largest Sikh population in Europe, only second to the United Kingdom, with an estimated number of 220,000
According to Gallo (2013), by contrast, the Sikhs would number at least 100,000. Barbara Bertolani estimates in 2013 "My own data gathered within the Sikh community in Italy show Sikh people constituting about 70% of all the Indians present, i.e., at least 84,000 residents
Up to 150,000 Sikhs now live there, making it the largest Sikh Community in Europe after the one in Britain
Despite the estimated 220,000 Sikh immigrants who inhabit the Po Valley, there seems to a whiff of change in the air
About 200,000 Sikhs live in different cities of Italy.
The vegan diet, the cult, the traditions. Customs and symbols of the 150,000 faithful of the religion born in India who now live in the Bel Paese
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)Muslim 231.069.932 (86.7), Christian 20.246.267 (7.6), Catholic 8.325.339 (3.12), Hindu 4.646.357 (1.74), Buddhist 2.062.150 (0.77), Confucianism 71.999 (0.03), Others/Traditional faiths 112.792 (0.04), Total 266.534.836
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Today there are well over 500,000 Sikhs in the United States.
Scholars and government officials estimate the Sikh American population to number around 500,000.
There are an estimated 500,000 Sikhs living in the U.S., many in New York and California.
Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, and, today, there are more than 30 million Sikhs worldwide and an estimated 500,000 Sikh Americans;
There are more than 500,000 Sikhs in the United States.
Despite its relatively recent arrival in Chicago, Sikhism is the world's fifth-largest religion, with 25 to 30 million adherents around the globe and an estimated 500,000 in America today.
it had chosen the city of Brixia because Italy had over 200,000 Sikhs living in the county with a majority in Brescia.
That it had chosen the city of Brixia because Italy had over 200,000 Sikhs living in it with a majority in Brescia
About 200,000 Sikhs live in different cities of Italy.
About 200,000 Sikhs live in different cities of Italy.
Italy has over 200,000 Sikhs who are active members of the Italian population, which is why this city was chosen
It is estimated that there are around 220,000 Sikh migrants in Italy. The community, however, has been largely invisible to native Italians. The majority of Sikhs are dairy workers, living far from the cities, and settled mainly in the farms of north and central Italy.
According to Gallo (2013), by contrast, the Sikhs would number at least 100,000. Barbara Bertolani estimates in 2013 "My own data gathered within the Sikh community in Italy show Sikh people constituting about 70% of all the Indians present, i.e., at least 84,000 residents
Despite the estimated 220,000 Sikh immigrants who inhabit the Po Valley, there seems to a whiff of change in the air
Malaysia has nearly 100,000 Sikh population.
Miri Indian Association president, Councillor Karambir Singh was quoted as saying by the Borneo Post. Malaysia has nearly 100,000 Sikh population
The Malaysian Sikh community is the fourth largest ethnic group of Malaysian Indians. It is estimated that over 100,000 Sikhs reside in Malaysia. The Sikh population is the largest here among Southeast and East Asia.
Sikhs (35,000), In recent years, the number of Indians (especially from Punjab/Haryana) has increased significantly owing to the easing of immigration norms by Portugal. However, since many of them do not have valid residency documents, official figures are not available.
Sikhs, 25,000 (2020)....The "German Information Center for Sikh Religion, Sikh History, Culture and Science (DISR)" estimates the number of Sikhs in Germany at 18,000 for 2017
The Sikh community in Greece, numbered at around 20,000 according to a 2012 report, joined together to mark the holy day
In Nederland wonen zo'n 15.000 sikhs, die hier sinds de jaren zestig vanuit Afghanistan, Pakistan en India kwamen, op zoek naar werk of op de vlucht voor de Sovjets, de Taliban of de geradicaliseerde aanhangers van Indira Gandhi, nadat zij in 1984 door haar sikhlijfwacht was vermoord. Ons land telt inmiddels negen gurdwara's. [Some 15,000 Sikhs live in the Netherlands, who have come here from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India since the 1960s, looking for work or fleeing the Soviets, the Taliban or the radicalized followers of Indira Gandhi, after they were killed in 1984. her Sikh bodyguard had been killed. Our country now has nine gurdwaras.]