Bahá'í statistics
Statistical estimates of the worldwide Bahá'í population are difficult to judge. The religion is almost entirely contained in a single, organized, hierarchical community, but the Bahá'í population is spread out into almost every country and ethnicity in the world, being recognized as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity.[1][2]
Official estimates of the worldwide Bahá'í population come from the Bahá'í World Centre, which claims "more than five million Bahá’ís" as early as 1991[3] "in some 100,000 localities." The official agencies of the religion often publish data on numbers of local and national spiritual assemblies, Counselors and their auxiliaries, countries of representation, languages, and publishing trusts. [1] Less often, they publish membership statistics. In recent years, the United States Bahá'í community has been releasing detailed membership statistics.[4]
Definition of membership
In the 1930s the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada began requiring new adherents to sign a declaration of faith, stating their belief in Bahá'u'lláh, the Báb, and `Abdu'l-Bahá, and an understanding that there are laws and institutions to obey (the card does not specify them). The purpose of signing a declaration card was to allow followers to apply for lawful exemption from active military service.[5] The signature of a card later became optional in Canada, but in the US is still used for records and administrative requirements.[6] Many countries follow the pattern of the US and Canada.
Other than signing a card and being acknowledged by a Spiritual Assembly, there is no initiation or requirement of attendance to remain on the official roll sheets. Members receive regular mailings unless they request not to be contacted.
Difficulties in enumeration
The fact that the religion is diffuse rather than concentrated is the major barrier to demographic research by outsiders. Surveys and censuses (except government census, which ask individuals their religion in many countries) simply cannot yet be conducted with such a scope, especially not at the level required to accurately gauge religious minorities. In some countries the Bahá'í Faith is illegal and Bahá'ís endure some degree of persecution, making it difficult for even Bahá'ís to maintain a count.
The World Christian Database (WCD), and its predecessor the World Christian Encyclopedia, has reviewed religious populations around the world and released results of their investigations at various times. The Bahá'í Faith has consistently placed high in the statistics of growth over these various releases of data - 1970 to 1985,[3] 1990 to 2000,[7][8] and most recently from 2000 to 2005.[9]
A review examining the reliability and bias of the World Christian Database found it "highly correlated with other sources of data" but "consistently gave a higher estimate for percent Christian." In conclusion they found that, "Religious composition estimates in the World Christian Database are generally plausible and consistent with other data sets."[10]
The large growth of the religion in the 20th century means that most Bahá'í's were not born into the religion of their grandparents, or of the society around them, combined with the Bahá'í principle of independent investigation, makes it difficult to compare Bahá'í statistics with religions in which people are automatically assigned to statistics at birth. Some would say that this results in an overcount for major religions; others point out that as a sociological reality, Baha'i membership is often more transient than say, Catholic identity.
Rapid growth and a spotty retention rate also make membership statistics difficult to maintain, because a certain number of Bahá'ís move on to other religions without asking to be removed from the Bahá'í membership rolls. From the mid-1960s until 2000, the US Baha'i population went from 10,000 to 140,000 on official rolls, but the percent of members with known addresses dropped to fifty percent.
On the other hand, most denominations make no effort at all to maintain a national membership database and must rely on local churches or surveys of the general population. Local church membership rolls are often maintained poorly because there may be no need for an official membership list (Bahá'ís at least must maintain accurate voting lists) and local congregations sometimes do not provide their denomination's membership data even when asked. Counting American Jews, half of whom are married to non-Jews and the majority of whom do not attend a synagogue, is immensely difficult. Estimates for the numbers of American Muslims and Eastern Orthodox often vary by a factor of two.
Worldwide figures
The following table was provided by the Bahá'í World Center Department of Statistics to view growth and basic statistics.[11]
|
1968
|
± 1986
|
2001
|
|
National Spiritual Assemblies
|
81
|
165
|
182
|
|
Local Spiritual Assemblies
|
6,840
|
18,232
|
11,740
|
|
Countries where the Bahá'í Faith is established:
independent countries
|
|
187
|
190
|
|
Countries where the Bahá'í Faith is established:
- dependent territories/overseas departments
|
|
45
|
46
|
|
Localities where Bahá'ís reside
|
31,572
|
>116,000
|
127,381
|
|
Indigenous tribes, races,
and ethnic groups
|
1,179
|
>2,100
|
2,112
|
|
Languages into which Bahá'í literature is translated
|
417
|
800
|
802
|
|
Bahá'í Publishing Trusts
|
9
|
26
|
33
|
Bahá’í sources
- The official international website claims to have "more than five million Bahá’ís resident in some 100,000 localities in every part of the world."
- The current US national website states that there are: "more than 5 million" Bahá'ís in the world.
- The introduction to a 1995 printing of The Promise of World Peace (Special Ideas, Heltonville, IN) claims: "more than five million members… in over 120,000 localities… in over 230 countries or significant territories."
- A pamphlet currently published by the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia estimates: "At present there are over 6 million Bahá'ís who live in more than 118,000 localities in over 200 countries and territories."
- A 1997 statement by the NSA of South Africa wrote: "…the Bahá'í Faith enjoys a world-wide following in excess of six million people."
- The Department of Statistics, Bahá'í World Centre, does not provide an estimated total, but claims that in 2001 there were 11,740 local Spiritual Assemblies, and 127,381 localities in 236 countries and territories. [2]
- A 1987 report, Achievements of the Seven Year Plan published in Bahá'í News (July, 1987,) pages 2–7, reports 4.74 million Bahá'ís in 1986 growing at a rate of 31% over 1979, or 4.4% per year on average.
Other sources
- The World Factbook states that Bahá'ís make up 0.12% of the world based on a 2007 estimate,[12] corresponding to 7.9 million people.
- The 2005 Association of Religion Data Archives estimate is of 7.6 million.[13]
- Encyclopædia Britannica in mid-2004 estimated a total of 7.5 million Bahá’ís residing in 218 countries.Worldwide Adherents of All Religions, Mid-2004 Its statistics are derived from the World Christian Encyclopedia.
- The World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001,p 4 estimated 7.1 million Bahá'ís in the world in 2000, representing 218 countries. The same source estimated 5.7 million in 1990.[3] Its definition of membership is broader than the official Bahá'í definition and would include people who attend Bahá'í gatherings regularly even if they have not declared their faith or persons who state they are Bahá'ís in government censuses as a result of reading about the religion or hearing about it on the radio.
- In 2005, the Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition, vol 2, pg. 739, (ISBN 0-02-865733-0) records that:
- "In the early twenty-first century the Bahá’ís number close to six million in more than two hundred countries. The number of adherents rose significantly in the late twentieth century from a little more than one million at the end of the 1960s."[14]
- adherents.com estimates 7 million Bahá’ís in 2000 based on research from David Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000, and the Population Reference Bureau www.prb.org.
- In 2003, The World Book Encyclopedia reports that "there are about 5,500,000 Bahá’ís worldwide." [4](registration required)
- In 2001, Paul Oliver wrote in World Faiths that there were "approximately five million Bahá’ís" in 1963.
- In 2004, the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa vol 1, reports that "By 1900, the community… had reached 50,000-100,000… Bahá’ís worldwide [are] estimated in 2001 at 5 million."
- In 2000, Denis MacEoin wrote in the Handbook of Living Religions that:
- "the movement has had remarkable success in establishing itself as a vigorous contender in the mission fields of Africa, India, parts of South America, and the Pacific, thus outstripping other new religions in a world-wide membership of perhaps 4 million and an international spread recently described as second only to that of Christianity. The place of Baha'ism among world religions now seems assured."
- In 1997, Dictionary of World Religions estimated "five million Bahá’ís" in the world.
- In 1997, Religions of the World published: "today there are about 5 million" Bahá’ís.
- In 1993, the Columbia Encyclopedia published: "There are about 5 million Bahá’ís in the world."
- In 1998, the Academic American Encyclopedia said that the Bahá’ís "are estimated to number about 2 million."
- In 1995 the HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion states: "In 1985, it was estimated that there were between 1.5 to 2 million Baha'is, with the greatest areas of recent growth in Africa, India, and Vietnam."
See also
Notes
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (2002). "Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-2002". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ MacEoin, Denis (2000). "Baha'i Faith". In Hinnells, John R.. The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions: Second Edition. Penguin. ISBN 0140514805.
- ^ a b .
- ^ See, for example, county-by-county information on numbers of Bahá'ís in Dale E. Jones et al., Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States, 2000 (Nashville, Tenn.: Glenmary Research Center, 2002) or Edwin Scott Gaustadd and Philip L. Barlow, New Historical Atlas of Religion in America (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2001, 279-81.)
- ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1971 reprint). Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand. Australia: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 140. ISBN. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/LANZ/lanz-51.html.
- ^ Compilations (1983). Hornby, Helen (Ed.). ed. Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India. p. 76. ISBN 8185091463. http://bahai-library.com/hornby_lights_guidance.
- ^ Barrett, David A. (2001). World Christian Encyclopedia. p. 4. http://www.bible.ca/global-religion-statistics-world-christian-encyclopedia.htm.
- ^ Barrett, David; Johnson, Todd (2001). "Global adherents of the World's 19 distinct major religions". William Carey Library. http://www.gordonconwell.edu/sites/default/files/wct-1-2.pdf. Retrieved 2006-10-12.
- ^ Staff (May 2007). "The List: The World’s Fastest-Growing Religions". Foreign Policy (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835.
- ^ Hsu, Becky; Reynolds, Amy; Hackett, Conrad; Gibbon, James (2008-07-09). "Estimating the Religious Composition of All Nations" (pdf). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. http://www.princeton.edu/~bhsu/Hsu2008.pdf.
- ^ http://bahai-library.com/bolhuis_bahai_statistics_2001
- ^ "World: People: Religions". CIA World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2007. ISSN 1553-8133. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html#people. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ^ "World Religions (2005)". QuickLists > The World > Religions. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_125.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
- ^ Jones 2005, p. 739
References
- Jones, Lindsay, ed (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion (second ed.). MacMillan Reference Books. ISBN 0028657330.
- Hinnells, John R. (2000). The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions (second ed.). Penguin. ISBN 0140514805.
- Roof, Wade C. (1993). A Generation of Seekers: Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060669640.
- World Book editors, ed (2002). The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book Inc. ISBN 0716601036.
- Oliver, Paul (2002). Teach Yourself World Faiths. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0071384480.
- Mattar, Philip, ed (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Middle East & North Africa. Thomson/Gale. ISBN 0028657691.
- Bowker, John W., ed (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192139657.
- O'Brien, Joanne; Palmer, Martin (2005). Religions Of The World. Facts on File. ISBN 0816062587.
- Chernow, Barbara A.; Vallasi, George A. (1993). The Columbia Encyclopedia. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 039562438x.
- Academic American Encyclopedia. Grolier Academic Reference. 1998. ISBN 0717220680.
- Smith, Jonathan Z.; American Academy of Religion (1995). The Harpercollins Dictionary of Religion. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060675152.
- The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition.. Brill. 1960. Ref DS37.E523.
- Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521770734.
External links