Religious groups

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Religion

Religions of the world

Buddhism Christianity Hindhuism Islam Judaism Shamanism

Religious aspects

Faith based organizations Religiosity Religious affiliation Religious attitudes Religious beliefs Religious buildings Religious education Religious experience Religious literature Religious groups Religious organizations Religious personnel Religious practices Religious prejudices

Miscellaneous

Asceticism Cultism Fundamentalism Mysticism Psychology of religion Occultism Spirituality Transpersonal psychology

File:Major religions distribution.png

Religions of the world, mapped by distribution, with no sects.

File:Worldreligion.png

Predominant religions of the world, mapped by state

In the 20th century study of comparative religion, major religious groups or "world religions" were divided up by adherence to a specific philosophy or theology. However, there is no consensus among researchers as to the best methodology for determining the religiosity profile of the world's population. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved:

• Whether to count "historically predominant religious culture[s]"
• Whether to count only those who actively "practice" a particular religion
• Whether to count based on a concept of "adherence"
• Whether to count only those who expressly self-identify with a particular denomination
• Whether to count only adults, or to include children as well
• Whether to rely only on official government-provided statistics
• Whether to use multiple sources and ranges or single "best source[s]"

Nonetheless, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are usually considered the respective top four.

By world population

The table below lists religions classified by philosophy; however, religious philosophy is not always the determining factor in local practice. Please note that this table includes heterodox movements as adherents to their larger philosophical category, although this may be disputed by others within that category. For example, Cao Đài is listed because it claims to be a separate category from Buddhism, while Hoa Hao is not, even though they are similar new religious movements.

The population numbers below are computed by a combination of census reports, random surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example USA or France), and self-reported attendance numbers, but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count. Some organizations may wildly inflate their numbers.

Cultural tradition	Religious category	Number of followers	Date of origin	Main regions covered
Abrahamic religions	Christianity	2.1 billion	1st c.	Worldwide except Northwest Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Central, East, and Southeast Asia.
	Islam	1.5 billion	7th c.	Middle East, Northern Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Western Africa, Indian subcontinent, Malay Archipelago with large population centers existing in Eastern Africa, Balkan Peninsula, Russia, Europe and China.
	Judaism	12–25 million	1300 B.C.	Israel and Jewish diaspora (meaning mostly North America and Europe)
	Bahá'í Faith	5 million	19th c.	Dispersed worldwide with no major population centers
	Rastafari movement	700 thousand	1930s	Jamaica, Caribbean, Africa
Dharmic religions	Hinduism	650 million –1.4 billion	2500–3000 B.C. or older	Indian subcontinent, Fiji, Guyana and Mauritius
	Buddhism	250–500 million	c. 500 B.C.	Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Indochina, regions of Russia.
	Sikhism	10–20 million	15th c.	Indian subcontinent, Australasia, Northern America, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and Western Europe.
	Jainism	6–12 million	c. 800 B.C.	India, and East Africa
Far Eastern religions	Taoism	Varies	Han Dynasty: 206 B.C. – A.D. 220	China and the Chinese diaspora
	Shinto	Varies	Varies by tradition	Japan
	Confucianism	Varies	5th c. B.C.	China, Korea, Vietnam and the Chinese and Vietnamese diasporas
Folk religions
	Chinese folk religions	Varies	Varies by tradition	China
	African traditional and diasporic religions	Millions	Varies by tradition	Africa, Americas
	Other folk religions	Millions	Varies by tradition	India, Asia
Other each over 500 thousand
	Chondogyo	3 million	1812	North Korea
	Tenrikyo	2 million	1832	Japan, Brazil
	Cao Đài	1–3 million	1925	Vietnam
	Ahl-e Haqq	1 million	14th century	Iraq, Iran
	Seicho-No-Ie	800 thousand	1929	Japan
	Yazidism	700 thousand	12th century or older	mainly Iraq
	Unitarian-Universalism	630 thousand	1961	United States, Europe

By region

Further information: Religion in present-day nations and states and National church

• Religion in Africa
• Religion in Asia
  • Religion in India
  • Religion in China
  • Muslim world (SW Asia and N Africa)
• Religion in North America
  • Religion in Canada
  • Religion in Mexico
  • Religion in the United States
• Religion in South America
• Religion in Australia
• Religion in Europe
  • Religion in the European Union

Trends in adherence

File:Religion in the world.PNG

Map showing relative importance of religion by country. Based on a 2006-2008 worldwide survey by Gallup.

File:Irreligion statistics by country.png

World map showing the percentages of people who regard religion as "non-important" according to a 2002 Pew survey

Since the late 19th century the demographics of religion have changed a great deal. Some countries with a historically large Christian population have experienced a significant decline in the numbers of professed active Christians. Symptoms of the decline in active participation in Christian religious life include declining recruitment for the priesthood and monastic life, as well as diminishing attendance at church. At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of people who identify themselves as secular humanists. In many countries, such as the People's Republic of China, communist governments have discouraged religion, making it difficult to count the actual number of believers. However, after the collapse of communism in numerous countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, religious life has been experiencing resurgence there, particularly in the forms of Neopaganism and Far Eastern religions.

Following is some available data based on the work of World Christian Database and its predecessor, the World Christian Encyclopedia:

Template:Onesource

1970-1985	1990-2000	2000-2005
3.65% - Bahá'í Faith	2.65% - Zoroastrianism	1.84% - Islam
2.74% - Islam	2.28% - Bahá'í Faith	1.70% - Bahá'í Faith
2.34% - Hinduism	2.13% - Islam	1.62% - Sikhism
1.67% - Buddhism	1.87% - Sikhism	1.57% - Hinduism
1.64% - Christianity	1.69% - Hinduism	1.32% - Christianity
1.09% - Judaism	1.36% - Christianity
	1.09% - Buddhism
	The annual growth in the world population over the same period is 1.41%.

While controversial in some respects, the results have been studied and found "highly correlated with other sources of data" but "consistently gave a higher estimate for percent Christian in comparison to other cross-national data sets" according to one study.

A 2002 Pew Research Center study found that, generally, poorer nations had a larger proportion of citizens who found religion to be very important than richer nations, with the exception of the United States.

See also

• Clergy
• Racial and ethnic groups
• Religious affiliation
• Religious organizations
• Religious practices

External links

• Animated history of World Religions - from the "Religion & Ethics" part of the BBC website, interactive animated view of the spread of world religions (requires Flash plug-in).
• BBC A-Z of Religions and Beliefs