List of religious populations

The World Factbook gives the population as 7,095,217,980 (July 2013 est.) and the distribution of religions as Christian 31.50% (of which Roman Catholic 16.85%, Protestant 6.15%, Orthodox 3.96%, Anglican 1.26%), Muslim 23.20% (of which Sunni 75-90%, Shia 10-20%, Ahmadi 1%), Hindu 13.8%, Buddhist 6.77%, Sikh 0.35%, Jewish 0.22%, Baha'i 0.11%, other religions 10.95%, non-religious 9.66%, atheists 2.01% (2010 est.).

Adherent estimates

Adherents.com says "Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number".

Notes

By proportion

Christians

Countries with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country (as of 2010):

1.   Vatican City 100%
2.  Pitcairn Islands 100% (100% Seventh-day Adventist)
3.  Samoa ~99%
4.  Romania 99%
5.  American Samoa 98.3%
6.  Malta 98.1% (mostly Roman Catholic)
7.  Venezuela 98% (96% Roman Catholic)
8.  Greece 98% (95% Greek Orthodox)
9.  Marshall Islands 97.2%
10.  Tonga 97.2%
11.  San Marino 97% (~97% Roman Catholic)
12.  Paraguay 96.9% (mostly Roman Catholic)
13.  Peru 96.5% (mostly Roman Catholic)
14.  El Salvador 96.4%
15.  Kiribati 96%
16.  Federated States of Micronesia ~96%
17.  Barbados 95.1%
18.  Papua New Guinea 94.8%
19.  East Timor 94.2%
20.  Armenia 93.5% (mostly Armenian Apostolic)

Mormonism

The Deseret Morning News' LDS Church Almanac gives information on historical membership records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church's reported membership was roughly 15,000,000 at the start of 2013.

Muslims

Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims from Islam by country (as of 2010) (figures excluding foreign workers in parenthesis):

1.  Saudi Arabia 100 % (90â€"95% Sunni, 5â€"10% Shi'a)
2.  Maldives 100% (mostly Sunni)
3.  Mauritania 100% (mostly Sunni)
4.  Turkey 99.8% (mostly Sunni)
5.  Somalia 99.8% (mostly Sunni)
6.  Afghanistan ~99% (mostly Sunni, 20% Shi'a)
7.  Yemen 99.1% (99.9%) (65â€"70% Sunni, 30â€"35% Shi'a)
8.  Morocco 98.7% (mostly Sunni)
9.  Algeria 98.3% (mostly Sunni)
10.  Iran 98% (mostly Shi'a)
11.  Tunisia 98% (mostly Sunni)
12.  Comoros 98% (mostly Sunni)
13.  Sudan 97% (mostly Sunni)
14.  Libya 96.6% (99%) (Sunni)
15.  Pakistan 96.4% (85â€"90% Sunni, 10â€"15% Shi'a)
16.  Iraq 95% (60â€"65% Shi'a, 33â€"40% Sunni)
17.  Djibouti 94% (mostly Sunni)
18.  Niger 93% (mostly Sunni)
19.  Bangladesh 89.4% (Sunni)
20.  Egypt 89.3% (Sunni)

Remarks: Because officially Muslim governments (such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Persian Gulf States) that often forcibly suppress other religious beliefs rule a number of traditionally Islamic countries, the figures for these other religious groups could be higher than reported in those nations. While conversion to Islam is among its most supported tenets, conversion from Islam to another religion is considered to be the sin of apostasy. According to the Hadith and in some countries it is subject to the penalty of death. See Freedom of religion by country and Apostasy in Islam.

Buddhists

Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists from Buddhism by country (as of 2010):

1.  Cambodia 96.9%
2.  Thailand 93.2%
3.  Burma 80.1%
4.  Sri Lanka 69.3%
5.  Japan 36.2%
6.  South Korea 22.9%
7.  China 18.2%
8.  Malaysia 17.7%
9.  Vietnam 16.4%
10.  India 0.8%

Hindus

Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus from Hinduism by country (as of 2010):

1.    Nepal 81.3%
2.  India 80.5%
3.  Mauritius 54%
4.  Fiji 33.7%
5.  Guyana 28%
6.  Bhutan 25%
7.  Suriname 20%
8.  Trinidad and Tobago 18.2%
9.  United Arab Emirates 15%
10.  Sri Lanka 12.6%
11.  Kuwait 12%
12.  Bangladesh 9.6%
13.  Bahrain 8.1%
14.  Réunion 6.7%
15.  Malaysia 6.3%
16.  Singapore 5.1%
17.  Oman 3%
18.  Seychelles 2.1%
19.  Pakistan 1.8%
20.  Indonesia 1.69%

Ethnic/Indigenous

Indigenous

All of the below come from the U.S Department of State 2009 International Religious Freedom Report, 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 following numbers may not reflect the actual number of practitioners.

1.  Haiti 50%
2.  Guinea-Bissau 50%
3.  Cameroon 40%
4.  Togo 33%
5.  Côte d'Ivoire 25%
6.  Sudan 25%
7.  Benin 23%
8.  Burundi 20%
9.  Philippines 16%
10.  Burkina Faso 15%
11.  New Zealand 15%
12.  South Africa 15%
13.  Democratic Republic of the Congo 12%
14.  Central African Republic 10%
15.  Gabon 10%
16.  Lesotho 10%
17.  Nigeria 10%
18.  Sierra Leone 10%
19.  Indonesia 9%
20.  Kenya 9%
21.  Palau 9%
22.  Ghana 8.5%
23.  Guinea 5%

Judaism

Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2010):

1.  Israel 75.4%
2.  Palestine 12â€"14%
3.  Monaco 2.9%
4.  United States 2.1%
5.  Gibraltar 2.1%
6.  Cayman Islands 1.71%
7.  Netherlands Antilles^ 1.3%
8.  Canada 1.1%
9.  France 0.75%
10.  Argentina 0.62%
11.  Uruguay 0.5%
12.  Australia 0.5%
13.  Hungary 0.45%
14.  U.S. Virgin Islands 0.45%
15.  Latvia 0.3%
16.  Germany 0.25%
17.  Netherlands 0.2%
18.  New Zealand 0.17%
19.  Ukraine 0.16%
20.  Russia 0.09%

Bahá'ís

Countries with the greatest proportion of Bahá'ís (as of 2010) with a national population ≥200,000:

1.  Belize 2.5%
2.  Bolivia 2.2%
3.  Zambia 1.8%
4.  Mauritius 1.8%
5.  Guyana 1.6%
6.  Vanuatu 1.4%
7.  Barbados 1.2%
8.  Trinidad and Tobago 1.2%
9.  Panama 1.2%
10.  Kenya 1.0%
11.  Lesotho 0.9%
12.  Papua New Guinea 0.9%
13.  Réunion 0.9%
14.  Chad 0.9%
15.  Botswana 0.8%
16.  Gambia 0.8%
17.  Suriname 0.8%
18.  Congo, Republic of the 0.6%
19.  Solomon Islands 0.6%
20.  Venezuela 0.6%

Sources: "Most Baha'i Nations (2010)". QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2010. Retrieved 2013-08-20.  which used the "World Christian Database" for adherents estimates based on information provided by the World Christian Encyclopedia and "World Christian Trends". A source who's only systematic flaw was to consistently have a higher estimate of Christians than other cross-national data sets. See "The Largest Baha'i Communities". Largest Religious Communities. Adherents.com. 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-20.  for 2000 estimates among all nations.

Irreligious and atheist

Countries with the greatest proportion of people without religion (including agnostics and atheists) from Irreligion by country (as of 2007):

1.  Estonia 71â€"82% (76.5%)
2.  Japan 64â€"88% (76%)
3.  Denmark 72%
4.  Sweden 46â€"82% (64%)
5.  Vietnam 44â€"81% (62.5%)
6.  Macau 60.9%
7.  Czech Republic 54â€"61% (57.5%)
8.  Hong Kong 57%
9.  France 43â€"64% (53.5%)
10.  Norway 31â€"72% (51.5%)
11.  China 47% (details)
12.  Netherlands 39â€"55% (47%)
13.  Finland 28â€"60% (44%)
14.  United Kingdom 31â€"52% (41.5%) (25% England and Wales)
15.  South Korea 30â€"52% (41%)
16.  Germany 25â€"55% (40%)
17.  Hungary 32â€"46% (39%)
18.  Belgium 42â€"43% (38.75%)
19.  Bulgaria 34â€"40% (37%)
20.  Slovenia 35â€"38% (36.5%)
21.  New Zealand 34.7%
22.  Russia 13â€"48% (30.5%)

Remarks: Ranked by mean estimate which is in brackets. Irreligious includes agnostic, atheist, secular believer, and people having no formal religious adherence. It does not necessarily mean that members 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 religious institute 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.

Sikhism

Countries with the greatest proportion of Sikhs:

1.  India 1.9%
2.  United Kingdom 1.2%
3.  Canada 0.9%
4.  Malaysia 0.5%
5.  Fiji 0.3%
6.  Singapore 0.3%
7.  United States 0.2%
8.  New Zealand 0.2%
9.  Australia 0.1%
10.  Italy 0.1%

The Sikh homeland is the Punjab state, in India, where today Sikhs make up approximately 61% of the population. This is the only place where Sikhs are in the majority. Sikhs have emigrated to countries all over the world â€" 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.

Taoists/Confucianists/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 specific practices of Taoism have 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 Chuan, Qigong, and various martial arts.

1.  Taiwan 33â€"80%
2.  China 30%
3.  Hong Kong 28%
4.  Macau 13.9%
5.  Singapore 8.5%
6.  Malaysia 2.6%
7.  South Korea 0.2â€"1%
8.  Vietnam
9.  Philippines 0.01â€"0.05%

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 1998.

Jainism

1.  Suriname 0.3%
2.  Fiji 0.2%
3.  Kenya 0.2%
4.  India 0.033%

Spiritism

1.  Cuba 10.3%
2.  Jamaica 10.2%
3.  Brazil 4.8%
4.  Suriname 3.6%
5.  Haiti 2.7%
6.  Dominican Republic 2.2%
7.  The Bahamas 1.9%
8.  Nicaragua 1.5%
9.  Trinidad and Tobago 1.4%
10.  Guyana 1.3%
11.  Venezuela 1.1%
12.  Colombia 1.0%
13.  Belize 1.0%
14.  Honduras 0.9%
15.  Puerto Rico 0.7%
16.  Panama 0.5%
17.  Iceland 0.5%
18.  Guadeloupe 0.4%
19.  Argentina 0.2%
20.  Guatemala 0.2%

Source: http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_50.asp

Note that all these estimates come from a single source. However, this source gives a relative indication of the size of the Spiritist communities within each country.

By population

Christians

Largest Christian populations (as of 2011):

1.  United States 229,157,250
2.  Brazil 169,213,130
3.  Mexico 106,204,560
4.  Nigeria 80,510,000
5.  Philippines 78,790,000
6.  Russia 67,640,000
7.  China 67,070,000
8.  Democratic Republic of the Congo 63,150,000
9.  France 55,948,600
10.  Italy 55,832,000
11.  Ethiopia 51,477,950
12.  Germany 50,752,580
13.  Colombia 44,502,000
14.  Ukraine 41,973,000
15.  South Africa 40,243,000
16.  Spain 38,568,000
17.  Poland 36,526,000
18.  Kenya 33,625,790
19.  Argentina 33,497,100
20.  United Kingdom 33,200,417

Muslims

Largest Muslim populations (as of 2013):

1.  Indonesia 206,986,560
2.  Pakistan 180,608,292
3.  India 160,945,000
4.  Bangladesh 132,937,800
5.  Nigeria 80,000,000
6.  Iran 73,238,340
7.  Egypt 70,056,000
8.  Turkey 70,036,838
9.  Algeria 36,092,810
10.  Morocco 31,351,800
11.  Afghanistan 30,112,680
12.  Sudan 30,064,180
13.  Iraq 29,767,300
14.  Ethiopia 28,120,050
15.  Saudi Arabia 26,624,560
16.  Uzbekistan 25,628,240
17.  Yemen 23,836,523
18.  China 20,095,870
19.  Syria 19,601,750
20.  Malaysia 17,085,402

Buddhists

Hindus

Largest Hindu populations (as of 2010):

1.  India 957,636,314
2.    Nepal 21,354,570
3.  Bangladesh 14,274,430
4.  Indonesia 4,012,470
5.  Pakistan 2,603,895
6.  Sri Lanka 2,554,606
7.  Malaysia 1,700,100
8.  United States 1,543,730
9.  United Arab Emirates 1,239,610
10.  South Africa 749,870
11.  Mauritius 665,820
12.  United Kingdom 630,000
13.  Tanzania 403,570
14.  Canada 333,901
15.  Kuwait 328,440
16.  Singapore 264,370
17.  Fiji 261,097
18.  Trinidad and Tobago 240,100
19.  Myanmar 203,000
20.  Bhutan 177,100
21.  Germany 120,000

Jews

Largest Jewish populations (as of 2011):

1.  United States 6,588,065
2.  Israel 5,907,500
3.  France 493,600
4.  Canada 375,000
5.  United Kingdom 291,000
6.  Russia 194,000
7.  Argentina 181,800
8.  Germany 119,000
9.  Australia 97,300
10.  Brazil 95,300
11.  Ukraine 70,200
12.  South Africa 67,000
13.  Hungary 48,200
14.  Mexico 39,200
15.  Belgium 30,000
16.  Italy 28,200
17.  Chile 18,500
18.  Turkey 17,400
19.  Uruguay 17,300
20.  Belarus 12,000

Sikhs

Largest Sikh populations

1.  India 22,892,600
2.  UK 853,000
3.  Canada 620,200
4.  USA 500,010
5.  Malaysia 120,000
6.  Bangladesh 100,000
7.  Italy 70,000
8.  Thailand 70,000
9.  Myanmar 70,000
10.  United Arab Emirates 50,000
11.  Germany 40,000
12.  Mauritius 37,700
13.  Australia 35,000
14.  Pakistan 29,150
15.  Kenya 20,000
16.  Kuwait 20,000
17.  Philippines 20,000
18.  New Zealand 17,400
19.  Indonesia 15,000
20.  Singapore 14,500

Bahá'ís

Largest Bahá'í populations (as of 2010) in countries with a national population ≥200,000:

1.  India 1,897,651
2.  United States 512,864
3.  Kenya 422,782
4.  Vietnam 388,802
5.  Congo, Democratic Republic of the 282,916
6.  Philippines 275,069
7.  Iran 251,127
8.  Zambia 241,112
9.  South Africa 238,532
10.  Bolivia 215,359
11.  Tanzania 190,419
12.  Venezuela 169,811
13.  Uganda 95,098
14.  Chad 94,499
15.  Pakistan 87,259
16.  Burma (Myanmar) 78,915
17.  Colombia 70,504
18.  Malaysia 67,549
19.  Thailand 65,096
20.  Papua New Guinea 59,898

Jainism

As of 2005:

1.  India 5,146,697
2.  United States 79,459
3.  Kenya 68,848
4.  United Kingdom 16,869
5.  Canada 12,101
6.  Tanzania 9,002
7.    Nepal 6,800
8.  Uganda 2,663
9.  Burma 2,398
10.  Malaysia 2,052
11.  South Africa 1,918
12.  Fiji 1,573
13.  Japan 1,535
14.  Australia 1,449
15.  Suriname 1,217
16.  Réunion 981
17.  Belgium 815
18.  Yemen 229

See also

• Major religious groups
• Importance of religion by country

Religions:

• Religions by country
• Bahá'í Faith by country
• Buddhism by country
• Christianity by country
  • Roman Catholicism by country
  • Protestantism by country
  • Orthodoxy by country
• Hinduism by country
• Islam by country
  • Ahmadiyya by country
• Judaism by country
• Sikhism by country

References

External links

• adherents.com
• Asian-Nation: Religious Affiliation among Asian Americans
• International Religious Freedom Report 2007 of U.S. Department of State
• Background Notes of U.S. Department of State
• Top Ten Religions
• The World Factbook of CIA
• Adherents.com
• Religious Freedom page
• Religious Intelligence
• World Statesmen
• BBC News â€" Muslims in Europe: Country guide
• Vipassana Foundation â€" Buddhists around the world
• Hierarchy â€" Statistics of Catholic population by country
• Irreligion