List of religious populations

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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:

Adherents sometimes give much higher figures for example:

After the largest religions there are significant populations of a number of smaller religions. Notably:

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.

Contents

[edit] By proportion

Countries with the greatest proportion of Christians (as of 2002):

  1. Vatican City, 100.0% (Roman Catholic 100.0%)
  2. Armenia, 100.0% Orthodox
  3. Greece, 98.0% (Orthodox 97.0%, Roman Catholic 1.0%, Muslim 1.3%)
  4. Romania, 97.4% (Orthodox 86.8%, Roman Catholic 5.4%, Other Christian 5.2%)
  5. Italy, 97% (Mostly Roman Catholic)
  6. Portugal, 97% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  7. Poland, 96% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  8. Republic of Ireland, 95% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  9. Argentina, 94% (mostly Roman Catholic, Jewish 2%)
  10. Spain, 94% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  11. Croatia, 92% (Roman Catholic 88%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%)
  12. Costa Rica, 92% (Roman Catholic 76.3%, Evangelical 13.7%, other Protestant 2%)
  13. France, 90% (Roman Catholic 81%, Muslim 8%, Jewish 1%)
  14. Brazil, 89% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  15. United States, 84% (Muslim 0.5%, Jewish 2%)

Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims (as of 2005):

  1. Saudi Arabia, 100%
  2. Somalia, 100%
  3. Mauritania, 99.9%
  4. Maldives, 99.9%
  5. Western Sahara, 99.8%
  6. Turkey, 99.8%
  7. Iran, 99%
  8. Algeria, 99%
  9. Afghanistan, 99%
  10. Yemen, 99%
  11. Tunisia, 99%
  12. Oman, 99%
  13. Comoros, 99%
  14. Djibouti, 99%
  15. Morocco, 98.7%
  16. Iraq, 97%
  17. Libya, 97%
  18. Pakistan, 96.35%
  19. Tajikistan, 95%
  20. Jordan, 95%

Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus (as of 2002):

  1. Nepal 89.5%
  2. India, 80.5% (Muslim 13%, Sikh 2%, Christian 2%)
  3. Mauritius, 50%
  4. Fiji, 40% [?] (Indo-Fijians are 75% Hindu, Muslim 16%, Christian 6%)(see remarks below)
  5. Guyana, 35%
  6. Suriname, 27%
  7. Bhutan, 25%
  8. Trinidad and Tobago, 24%
  9. Bangladesh, 16%
  10. Sri Lanka 15%
  11. Bahrain, 7.7%
  12. United Arab Emirates, 7.5%
  13. Malaysia, 6.3%
  14. Indonesia, 7%
  15. Singapore, 4.4%
  16. Pakistan, 3%
  17. Philippines, 3%
  18. United Kingdom 1.6%
  19. South Africa, 1.5%

Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists (as of 2005):

  1. Thailand, 94%
  2. Cambodia, 93%
  3. Mongolia, 93%
  4. Burma, 90%
  5. Bhutan, 74%
  6. Japan, Buddhist 71%
  7. Sri Lanka, 70% (Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 7%)
  8. Laos, 60%
  9. Vietnam, 50%
  10. Singapore, 42.5%
  11. China, 30%
  12. Taiwan, 25%
  13. South Korea, 23.33%
  14. Malaysia, 19.2%
  15. Brunei, 13%
  16. Nepal, 11% Remark: 1. Japan has been known to be largely Atheist. (over 80%) Japanese Buddhists are considered philosophical Buddhists, and in practice do not believe in God.

Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2005):

  1. Israel, 80% (Muslim 14%, Christian 2%)

Countries with the greatest proportion of Bahá'ís (as of 2000):

  1. Nauru 9.22%
  2. Tonga 6.09%
  3. Tuvalu 5.86%
  4. Kiribati 4.70%
  5. Tokelau Islands 4.33%
  6. Cocos Islands 3.72%
  7. Bolivia 3.25%
  8. Falkland Islands 2.98%
  9. Vanuatu 2.78%
  10. Belize 2.73%
  11. Samoa 2.37%
  12. Guyana 2.09% (reported as 7% in 2004)
  13. United Arab Emirates 1.95%
  14. Sao Tome and Principe 1.88%
  15. Mauritius 1.84%
  16. Zambia 1.70%
  17. Dominica 1.61%
  18. Micronesia 1.61%
  19. Niue Island 1.53%
  20. 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.

[edit] By population

Largest Christian populations (as of 2002)[citation needed]:

  1. United States, 189,983,000
  2. Brazil, 175,405,000
  3. Mexico, 96,614,000
  4. China, 86,801,000
  5. Philippines, 72,225,000
  6. Germany, 60,712,000
  7. Nigeria, 54,012,000
  8. Italy, 47,704,000
  9. France, 45,505,000
  10. Ethiopia, 45,000,824
  11. Congo, 42,283,000

Largest Muslim populations (as of 2002)[citation needed]:

  1. Indonesia, 182,570,000
  2. Pakistan, 134,480,000
  3. India, 121,000,000
  4. Bangladesh, 114,080,000
  5. Turkey, 65,510,000
  6. Iran, 62,430,000
  7. Egypt, 58,630,000
  8. Nigeria, 53,000,000
  9. Algeria, 30,530,000
  10. 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]:

  1. India, 816,000,000
  2. Nepal, 13,300,000
  3. Bangladesh, 12,600,000
  4. Indonesia, 4,800,000
  5. Sri Lanka, 3,000,000
  6. Malaysia, 1,600,000
  7. Mauritius, 650,000
  8. United Kingdom, 500,000
  9. Fiji, 335,000
  10. 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 2005)[citation needed]:

  1. China, 392,000,000
  2. Japan, 90,000,000
  3. Thailand, 62,000,000
  4. Vietnam, 42,000,000
  5. Burma, 39,000,000
  6. Sri Lanka, 14,000,000
  7. Cambodia, 13,000,000
  8. Korea, South, 11,000,000
  9. India, 8,000,000
  10. Taiwan, 6,000,000
  11. Korea, North, 5,000,000
  12. Malaysia, 5,000,000
  13. Laos, 4,000,000
  14. Nepal, 3,000,000
  15. United States, 3,000,000
  16. Mongolia, 2,600,000
  17. Indonesia, 2,000,000
  18. Singapore, 1,900,000
  19. Bhutan, 1,700,000
  20. Bangladesh, 700,000
  21. Russia, 700,000

Largest National Bahá'í populations (as of 2000):

  1. India 1,716,148 0
  2. United States 753,423
  3. Iran 463,151
  4. Viet Nam 356,133
  5. Kenya 308,292
  6. Bolivia 269,246
  7. South Africa 255,775
  8. Philippines 229,522
  9. Congo (Zaire) 224,596
  10. Zambia 162,443
  11. Thailand 144,243
  12. Venezuela 141,072
  13. Tanzania 140,593
  14. Malaysia 97,078
  15. Chad 80,683
  16. Myanmar 79,044
  17. Pakistan 78,658
  18. Uganda 66,546
  19. Colombia 64,758
  20. 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 400 million or more in this way. Similarly, the figures for Vietnam and North Korea may be higher, while Japan could easily add another 12 million.

[edit] Lists by country

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g CIA - The World Factbook -- World. Central Intelligence Agency, United States Government. Retrieved on 2006-10-03.
  2. ^ Barrett, David A. (2001). World Christian Encyclopedia, p. 4.

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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