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List of religious populations

This is a list of religious populations by number of adherents and countries.

Current world estimates

Pew Research Center made its "Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050" based on 2010 baseline estimates. New estimates for 2020 are still work in progress. Their methodology is published as an appendix.

Notes

Largest religion by country

By proportion

Christians

Countries and territories with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country, in 2010:

  1. 100% (100% Roman Catholic)
  2. 100% (100% Seventh-day Adventist)
  3. 99.6% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  4. ~99.0% (mostly Protestant)
  5. 98.5% (96% Oriental Orthodox)
  6. 98.3% (mostly Protestant; ARDA claim)
  7. 98.1% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  8. 98.0% (71% Roman Catholic)
  9. 98.0% (95% Eastern Orthodox)
  10. 97.2% (mostly Protestant)
  11. 97.2% (mostly Protestant)
  12. 97.0% (~97% Roman Catholic)
  13. 96.9% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  14. 96.4% (mostly Roman Catholic; ARDA claim)
  15. 96.0% (mostly Protestant)
  16. ~96.0% (mostly Protestant)
  17. 95.1% (mostly Protestant)
  18. 94.8% (mostly Protestant; ARDA claim)
  19. 94.6% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  20. 94.5% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  21. 93.0% (mostly Eastern Orthodox)
  22. 92.9% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  23. 91.1% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  24. 90.0% (mostly Roman Catholic)

Muslims

Countries and territories with a considerable proportion of Muslims from Islam by country in 2010, excluding foreign workers in brackets:

  1. 100%
  2. 99.9%
  1. 99.9%
  2. 99.8% (65% Sunni, 35% Shia)
  3. 99.7%
  4. 99.7% (90% Sunni, 10% Shia)
  5. 99.6% (95% Shia, 5% Sunni)
  6. 99.5%
  7. 99.2% (55% Shia, 45% Sunni)
  8. Gaza Strip 99.0%
  9. 99.0% (60% Shia, 40% Sunni)
  10. 99.0% (mostly Sunni)
  11. 98.6% (85% Sunni, 15% Shia)
  12. 98.3%
  13. 98.0%
  14. 97.9%
  15. 97.2% (90% Sunni, 10% Shia)
  16. 97.0%
  17. 96.9%
  18. 96.6%
  19. 96.4% (85% Sunni, 12% Shia, 3% Other)
  20. 96.3%
  21. 94.6%
  22. 92.2% (80% Sunni, 20% Shia)

Irreligious and atheists

Countries with the greatest proportion of people without religion, including agnostics and atheists, from Irreligion by country in 2020:

  1. 78.4%
  2. 71.3%
  3. 60.2%
  4. 60.0%
  5. 54.7%
  6. 51.8%
  7. 46.6%
  8. 45.3%
  9. 44.3%
  10. 41.5%
  11. 39.6%
  12. 36.5%
  13. 31.9%
  14. 31.2%
  15. 31.0%
  16. 29.9%
  17. 29.0%
  18. 28.6%
  19. 28.6%
  20. 28.0%
  21. 26.7%
  22. 26.3%
  23. 24.5%
  24. 23.2%
  25. 22.8%
  26. 21.0%
  27. 20.8%
  28. 20.3%
  29. 19.4%
  30. 18.8%

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. 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.

Hindus

Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus from Hinduism by country in 2010:

  1. 81.3%
  2. 79.8%
  3. 48.54%
  4. 27.9%
  5. 25.0%
  6. 24.8%
  7. 22.3%
  8. 18.2%
  9. 15.0%
  10. 12.6%
  11. 12.0%
  12. 9.6%
  13. 8.1%
  14. 6.7%
  15. 6.3%
  16. 5.1%
  17. 3.0%
  18. 2.6%
  19. 2.2%
  20. 2.1%
  21. 1.7%
  22. 1.7%
  23. 1.5%
  24. 1.4%
  25. 1.2%
  26. 0.7%

Buddhists

Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists from Buddhism by country in 2010:

  1. 96.9%
  2. 93.2%
  3. 80.1%
  4. 74.7%
  5. 69.3%
  6. 66.0%
  7. 55.1%
  8. 36.2% - 66.7%
  9. 35.1%
  10. 33.2%
  11. 22.9%
  12. 19.8%
  13. 18.2%
  14. 17.3%
  15. 16.4%
  16. 13.2%
  17. 10.6%
  18. 10.3%
  19. 8.6%
  20. 3.1%
  21. 2.8%
  22. 2.7%
  23. 2.5%
  24. 2.0%
  25. 1.6%
  26. 1.5%
  27. 1.2%
  28. 1.1%

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 practice of Taoism has not been promulgated in America with much success. 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.

  1. 33.0–80.0%
  2. 30.0%
  3. 28.0%
  4. 13.9%
  5. 8.5%
  6. 2.6%
  7. 0.2–1.0%
  8. 0.01–0.05%
  9. 0.05%

In 1999, the Chinese traditional religion had 184,000 believers in Latin America, 250,000 believers in Europe, and 839,000 believers in North America.

Ethnic and indigenous religionists

Indigenous statistics come from the 2009 U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom Act, 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.

  1. 35.6%
  2. 32.9%
  3. 30.9%
  4. 29.5%
  5. 25.0%
  6. 25.0%
  7. 20.0%
  8. 15.0%
  9. 15.0%
  10. 12.0%
  11. 10.5%
  12. 10.0%
  13. 10.0%
  14. 10.0%
  15. 10.0%
  16. 10.0%
  17. 9.0%
  18. 9.0%
  19. 8.5%
  20. 5.0%

Sikhs

Countries with the greatest proportion of Sikhs:

  1. 2.12%
  2. 1.72%
  3. 1.10%
  4. 0.88%
  5. 0.88%
  6. 0.83%
  7. 0.75%
  8. 0.56%
  9. 0.37%
  10. 0.35%

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. They can be found in many international cities and have become an especially strong religious presence in the United Kingdom and Canada. Sikhism is the fastest growing religion in New Zealand and Australia.

Spiritists

  1. 10.3%
  2. 10.2%
  3. 4.8%
  4. 3.6%
  5. 2.7%
  6. 2.2%
  7. 1.9%
  8. 1.5%
  9. 1.4%
  10. 1.3%
  11. 1.1%
  12. 1.0%
  13. 1.0%
  14. 0.9%
  15. 0.7%
  16. 0.5%
  17. 0.5%
  18. 0.4%
  19. 0.2%
  20. 0.2% (ARDA claim)

Spiritist estimates come from a single source, which gives a relative indication of the size of the Spiritist communities within each country.

Jews

Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews in 2017:

  1. 73.60%
  2. 2.00%
  3. 1.76%
  4. 1.07%
  5. 0.70%
  6. 0.485%
  7. 0.483%
  8. 0.47%
  9. 0.44%
  10. 0.41%
  11. 0.36%
  12. 0.259%
  13. 0.25%
  14. 0.24%
  15. 0.22%
  16. 0.17%
  17. 0.154%
  18. 0.154%
  19. 0.152%
  20. 0.14%
  21. 0.124%
  22. 0.124%
  23. 0.122%
  24. 0.112%
  25. 0.11%

By population

Christians

Largest Christian populations in 2011:

  1. 229,157,250 (details)
  2. 169,213,130
  3. 114,198,444
  4. 106,204,560
  5. 80,510,000
  6. 78,790,000
  7. 67,070,000
  8. 63,150,000
  9. 55,832,000
  10. 51,477,950
  11. 50,752,580
  12. 44,502,000
  13. 41,973,000
  14. 40,243,000
  15. 39,560,000
  16. 38,568,000
  17. 36,526,000
  18. 33,625,790
  19. 33,497,100
  20. 33,200,417
  21. 29,943,000
  22. 29,579,316
  23. 28,436,000
  24. 28,340,790
  25. 27,365,100

Muslims

Largest Muslim populations in 2017:

  1. 238,990,000 (details)
  2. 215,000,000
  3. 209,000,000
  4. 153,000,000
  5. 117,000,000
  6. 87,500,000
  7. 82,000,000
  8. 79,850,000
  9. 48,000,000
  10. 44,000,000
  11. 41,000,000
  12. 39,000,000
  13. 38,000,000
  14. 37,000,000
  15. 33,000,000
  16. 33,648,090
  17. 30,000,000
  18. 28,000,000
  19. 25,000,000
  20. 22,000,000
  21. 22,000,000

Irreligious and atheists

Largest religiously unaffiliated populations in 2020:

  1. 1,278,120,000
  2. 100,910,000
  3. 72,570,000
  4. 66,370,000
  5. 30,230,000
  6. 29,560,000
  7. 28,110,000
  8. 28,110,000
  9. 27,090,000
  10. 25,030,000
  11. 19,040,000
  12. 13,480,000
  13. 13,220,000
  14. 12,570,000
  15. 10,900,000
  16. 9,540,000
  17. 7,950,000
  18. 7,680,000
  19. 6,770,000
  20. 6,460,000
  21. 5,860,000

Hindus

Largest Hindu populations in 2020:

  1. 1,120,000,000
  2. 28,600,000
  3. 14,274,430
  4. 4,640,000
  5. 4,400,000
  6. 3,090,000
  7. 2,510,000
  8. 1,940,000
  9. 1,239,610
  10. 1,030,000
  11. 890,000
  12. 682,302
  13. 665,820
  14. 610,000
  15. 440,000
  16. 410,000
  17. 403,570
  18. 380,000
  19. 360,000
  20. 330,000
  21. 310,000
  22. 270,000
  23. 200,000
  24. 200,000
  25. 190,000
  26. 120,785
  27. 120,000

Buddhists

Largest Buddhist populations in 2020.

  1. 67,620,000
  2. 53,380,000
  3. 47,210,000
  4. 46,990,000
  5. 22,580,000
  6. 16,240,000
  7. 15,700,000
  8. 9,850,000
  9. 9,550,000
  10. 6,400,000
  11. 3,800,023
  12. 2,062,000
  13. 1,001,974
  14. 670,000
  15. 660,000
  16. 630,000
  17. 580,000
  18. 520,000
  19. 470,000
  20. 400,000

Sikhs

Largest Sikh population in 2023

  1. 23,786,000
  2. 771,790
  3. 524,000
  4. ~280,000
  5. 210,400
  6. 210,000
  7. 100,000
  8. 70,000
  9. 52,000
  10. 50,000
  11. 40,908
  12. 35,540
  13. 35,000
  14. 30,000
  15. 26,000
  16. 25,000
  17. 23,000
  18. 20,000
  19. 15,000
  20. 15,000
  21. 15,000

Jews

Largest Jewish populations in 2017:

  1. 6,451,000
  2. 5,700,000
  3. 456,000
  4. 390,000
  5. 289,500
  6. 180,500
  7. 176,000
  8. 116,500
  9. 113,200
  10. 93,800
  11. 69,300
  12. 53,000
  13. 47,500
  14. 40,000
  15. 29,800
  16. 29,300
  17. 27,300
  18. 18,700
  19. 18,300
  20. 16,900
  21. 15,300
  22. 15,000
  23. 11,800
  24. 10,000
  25. 10,000

Baháʼís

Largest Baháʼí populations in 2010 in countries with a national population ≥200,000:

  1. 1,897,651
  2. 512,864
  3. 422,782
  4. 388,802
  5. 300,000
  6. 282,916
  7. 275,069
  8. 251,127
  9. 241,112
  10. 238,532
  11. 215,359
  12. 190,419
  13. 169,811
  14. 95,098
  15. 94,499
  16. 87,259
  17. 78,915
  18. 70,504
  19. 67,549
  20. 65,096
  21. 59,898

Jains

In 2005, per ARDA:

  1. 5,146,697
  2. 79,459
  3. 68,848
  4. 35,000
  5. 12,101
  6. 9,002
  7. 6,800
  8. 2,663
  9. 2,398
  10. 2,052
  11. 1,918
  12. 1,573
  13. 1,535
  14. 1,500
  15. 1,449
  16. 1,217
  17. 1,000
  18. 1,000
  19. 981
  20. 500 families
  21. 229

See also

Religions:

Notes

References

External links