Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Islam
(Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number. This list is sociological/statistical in perspective.)
Introduction
The adherent counts presented in the list above are current estimates of the
number of people who have at least a minimal level of self-identification as
adherents of the religion. Levels of participation vary within all groups. These
numbers tend toward the high end of reasonable worldwide estimates. Valid
arguments can be made for different figures, but if the same criteria are used
for all groups, the relative order should be the same. Further details and
sources are available below and in the
Adherents.com main database.
A major source for these estimates is the detailed country-by-country analysis done by David B. Barrett's religious statistics organization, whose data are published in the Encyclopedia Britannica (including annual updates and yearbooks) and also in the World Christian Encyclopedia (the latest edition of which - published in 2001 - has been consulted). Hundreds of additional sources providing more thorough and detailed research about individual religious groups have also been consulted.
This listing is not a comprehensive list of all religions, only the "major" ones (as defined below). There are distinct religions other than the ones listed above. But this list accounts for the religions of over 98% of the world's population. Below are listed some religions which are not in this listing (Mandeans, PL Kyodan, Ch'ondogyo, Vodoun, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, Taoism, Roma), along with explanations for why they do not qualify as "major world religions" on this list.
This world religions listing is derived from the statistics data in the
Adherents.com database. The list was
created by the same people who collected and organized this database, in
consultation with university professors of comparative religions and scholars
from different religions. We invite additional input. The Adherents.com
collection of religious adherent statistics now has over 43,000 adherent
statistic citations, for over 4,300 different faith groups, covering all
countries of the world. This is not an absolutely exhaustive compilation of all
such data, but it is by far the largest compilation available on the Internet.
Various academic researchers and religious representatives regularly share
documented adherent statistics with Adherents.com so that their information can
be available in a centralized database.
Statistics and geography citations for religions not on this list, as
well as subgroups within these religions (such as Catholics, Protestants,
Karaites, Wiccans, Shiites, etc.) can be found in the main Adherents.com
database.
This document is divided into the following sections:
There are twelve classical world religions. This is the list of religions described most often in surveys of the subject, and studied in World Religion classes (some of them more for historical rather than contemporary reasons):
The "World's Major Religions" list published in the New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference is typical of world religion lists which are functionally-oriented, yet still strongly classical (New York: Prentice Hall, 1993; pg. 271):
In modern Western thought, the first writers to divide the world into "world
religions" were Christians. Originally, three religions were recognized:
Christians, Jews and pagans (i.e., everybody else).
After many centuries, with the increased Western awareness of Eastern history
and philosophy, and the development of Islam, other religions were added to the
list. Many Far Eastern ways of thought, in fact, were given the status of "world
religion" while equally advanced religious cultures in technologically less
developed or pre-literate societies (such as in Australia, Africa, South America,
and Polynesia) were grouped together as pagans or "animists," regardless of
their actual theology. It's true that by the standards applied at the time, the
Far Eastern religions Westerners encountered were often in a different category
altogether than the religions they classified as pagan. One can not directly
compare, for example, the local beliefs of the Polynesian islands of Kiribati
during the 1500s to the organizational, political, literary and philosophical
sophistication of Chinese Taoism during the same period. But one could certainly
question whether Japanese Shintoism, as an official "world religion", was
theologically or spiritually more "advanced" than African Yoruba religion, which
was classified simply as animism or paganism.
During the 1800s comparative religion scholars increasingly recognized Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism as the most significant "world
religions." Even today, these are considered the "Big Five" and are the
religions most likely to be covered in world religion books.
Five smaller or more localized religions/philosophies brought the list of world
religions to ten: Confucianism, Taoism, Jainism, Shinto and Zoroastrianism.
Beginning around 1900 comparative religion writers in England began to take note
of the Sikhs which had begun to immigrate there from India (part of the British
Empire at the time). Sikhs, if mentioned at all, had been classified as a sect
of Hinduism during the first three hundred years of their history. But after the
influential British writers began to classify Sikhism as a distinct, major world
religion, the rest of the world soon followed their example.
Baha'is are the most recent entrant to the "Classical" list. The religion is
only about 150 years old. On their official website, Baha'is claim 5 million
adherents worldwide, established in 235 countries and territories throughout the
world. While most comparative religion textbooks produced during this century
either ignore them or group them as a Muslim sect, the most recent books give
them separate status and often their own chapter. Baha'is have achieved this
status partially through their worldwide geographical spread and increasing
numbers, and partially by constantly insisting that they are indeed the "newest
world religion."
The classical set of twelve is not necessarily the most accurate reflection of
the present, real-world religious situation. (This fact is briefly addressed
below.) We agree with the prominent comparative religion scholar Irving Hexham (an
Evangelical Christian, and a professor at the University of Calgary) who wrote:
...there is an overemphasis on certain narrowly defined academic traditions in Religious Studies to the neglect of studies dealing with religion as it actually occurs in the world. In other words academics are happy to study other academics regardless of what is actually happening in everyday life. Thus, for example... I believe that the founder of [the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], Joseph Smith, is a far more influential figure and deserves as much attention as the father of modern theology, Freidrich Schleiermacher, yet current textbooks and course offerings invariably mention Schleiermacher but rarely pay any attention to Joseph Smith. By recognizing the importance of living religions, popular piety and sociological studies I hope more balance will enter Religious Studies. [Source: Irving Hexham, Concise Dictionary of Religion, 1998.]
The Adherents.com "Major Religions" list presented on this web page differs from
classical lists because it draws more from an extremely large body of
contemporary affiliation data, rather than relying heavily on the lists and
texts of past commentators (Hudson Smith, Noss, Barrett, etc.).
There are many distinct religions or religious movements which have more
adherents than some of the classical world religions, but which are not part
of the classical list for various reasons. These reasons include:
In order to rank religions by size, two parameters must be defined:
With a working definition of "a religion" and a method for measuring size,
criteria for what constitutes a "major" religion must be determined, otherwise
this list could be impractically inclusive and long.
"Major religions", for the purposes of this list, are:
There are countless definitions of religion. But only one can be used in
making a ranked list.
We are using the groupings most described used in contemporary comparative
religion literature (listed above). Each of these "world religions" is
actually a classification of multiple distinct movements, sects,
divisions, denominations, etc. None of these world religions is a single,
unified, monolithic organization. The diversity within these groupings varies.
Hinduism is often described as a collection very different traditions, bound by
a geographical and national identity. So broad is this religious "umbrella" that
it includes clearly polytheistic, tritheistic, monotheistic, pantheistic,
nontheistic, and atheistic traditions.
The Babi & Baha'i tradition, on the other hand, is probably the most unified of
the classical world religions. It is almost entirely contained within one very
organized, hierarchical denomination, the Bahai Faith, based in Haifa, Israel.
But there are small schismatic groups, such as
the Arizona-based "Orthodox"
Baha'is, Azali Babis (probably defunct), and four or five others.
All adherents of a single religion usually share at least some commonalities,
such as a common historical heritage and some shared doctrines or practices.
But these rules can't be pushed too far before being overburdened by exceptions.
A listing of doctrinally and organizationally meaningful divisions or
denominational "branches" (such as Catholic, Eastern/Orthodox Christian, Sunni
Islam, Shiite Islam, Evangelical Christian, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada
Buddhism, etc.) would clearly be useful, but that is the subject of a
different list: Major
Branches of Major World Religions.
In the following list the classical world religions are listed with the most
cohesive/unified groups first, and the religions with the most internal
religious diversity last. This list is based primarily on the degree of
doctrinal/theological similarity among all the various sub-groups which belong
to these classifications, and to a lesser extent based on diversity in practice,
ritual and organization. (Obviously these classifications include both majority
manifestations of these religions, as well as subgroups which larger branches
sometimes label "heterodox.")
No "value judgement" is implied by this list. There are adjectives with both
positive and negative connotations which describe both ends of this spectrum.
From an academic, comparative religions viewpoint, there is no basis for "prescribing"
whether it is better for a religion to be highly unified, cohesive, monolithic,
and lacking in internal religious diversity, or whether it is better to be
fragmented, schismatic, diverse, multifaceted and abounding in variations on the
same theme.
In a practical sense, most people actually practice only one form of whatever
religion they belong to. Buddhism, for example, if viewed as a whole, can be
understood to have a large amount of internal variation, including the Theravada
and Mahayana branches, all of their sub-schools, various revivalist sects, as
well as Tibetan and modern Western forms. But most actual Buddhists are not
actually involved in all of these; rather they practice one, internally cohesive,
fairly unified form, such as the Geluk order of Tibetan Buddhism, or Japanese
Amida-Buddha worship.
How is classification done for official government figures? It is
important to note that data for the size of various religions within a given
country often come from government census figures or official estimates. Such
governmental endeavors are interested primarily in physical population
demographics, such as how many people live in a household and how many
telephones there are per person. These studies are not theological treatises.
They merely classify Hindus as all people who call themselves Hindu, Muslims as
all people who call themselves Muslim, Christians as all people who call
themselves Christian.
From a sociological and historical perspective, most religions have arisen from
within existing religious frameworks: Christianity from Judaism, Buddhism from
Hinduism, Babi & Baha'i faiths from Islam, etc. For the purposes of defining a
religion we need to have some cutoff point. Should Sikhism be listed as a Hindu
sect (as in many older textbooks), or a world religion in its own right?
To manage this question we have chosen once again to use the most commonly-recognized
divisions in comparative religion texts. These definitions are primarily
sociological and historical, NOT doctrinal or theological in nature.
We recognize that within many religious traditions there are deeply felt
arguments for excluding certain groups from their description of their religion.
For example, councils of Muslim leaders have voted to no longer accept Ahmadis
as valid Muslims, although Ahmadis consider themselves orthodox Muslims. Many
Evangelical Protestants churches exclude all non-Evangelical or non-Protestant
groups from their definitions of Christianity. On the other hand, some Hindu
writers are so inclusive that they claim as Hindus adherents of any religion
that arose in a Hindu environment, including Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. These
definitions are theological in nature and of little use in this statistical
context.
Groups such as Rastafarians, Mandeans, Tenrikyo, and the
Church
of
Scientology are too small, too new or too unimportant in world
history to be included in most surveys of "major world religions." Thus, in
including such groups in this listing it is not always possible to appeal to a
consensus within comparative religion literature. Where classification is
unclear, we've used two criteria:
If the answer to both of these questions is no, then the faith group
is probably a distinct religion. If the answer to both questions is yes,
the faith group is a division within the larger religion (and thus not a world
religion, but a division of a world religion). If the answer to only one of the
questions is yes, there is a judgment call to be made, but of course we give
more weight to a group's self-concept.
For example, Tenrikyo arose in the 1830s in Japan in a Shinto context. The
founder explained that her new revelations came from various Shinto kami (gods).
Thus, Tenrikyo was classified by the Japanese ministry of religion as a Shinto
sect for about one hundred years. Then the leaders of Tenrikyo asked that the
faith no longer be classified as a Shinto faith. Outsiders would agree that
Tenrikyo has emerged as something identifiably distinct from traditional Shinto
religion, although many world religion writers include Tenrikyo in chapters on
Shinto or Japanese religion for simplicity's sake. (These books can only have a
limited number of chapters.) Based on these facts (and because we have no limit
on the number of religions we can include on this list), we include Tenrikyo as
a distinct religion.
Even fairly contemporary and progressive writers have a "youth cut-off"
requirement for their listings of major world religions. Many writers will
classify newer movements as NRMs ("New Religious Movements"), and reserve the
label of "world religion" for "long established" religions. (Given the content
of these lists, one must assume "long established" means "at least as old as the
Babi & Baha'i faiths.") This is a valid criterion, although for the most part we
are not using it here. Many of the movements that seem like distinct new
religions may die out within a few generations. Many of the most recent
movements, such as Seicho-No-Ie, Ananaikyo, Ch'ondogyo and other Asian new
religious movements are overtly syncretistic or universalist, similar in
some ways to but originating many years later than the Baha'i faith. Other new
religious movements of this century have primarily remained within
established world religions, such as new Buddhist (Western Buddhist Order),
Hindu (Hare Krishna), Muslim (Nation of Islam), Jewish (Reconstructionism), and
Christian (Pentecostalism, neo-Evangelicalism, Calvary Chapel) movements and
denominations. Other new religious movements of the 20th century, especially
recently, have been new formulations of long-dormant faiths, such as
Neo-Pagan and neo-Shamanist groups. Scientology, is one
of the few movements of the 20th century that has grown large enough and escaped
its predecessor religious matrix thoroughly enough to be considered a distinct
world religion. Even its oft-criticized differences lend credence to the notion
that it is truly a unique, new religion, and not a part of Hinduism, Buddhism or
some other faith.
But Ahmadiyya (a recent offshoot of Islam), is not included on this list as a
separate religion because its adherents claim to be Muslim, view themselves as
completely Muslim, and wish to be classified as part of Islam.
Also, in keeping with the sociological perspective of Adherents.com, we are
applying Emil Durkheim's classical definition of religion as "a unified
system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say,
things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite into one
single moral community..."
To this definition, we add its more recent reformulation describing religion as
an ultimate concern with transformational/motivational effect. With these
sociological (non-theological) definitions we could include in this list schools
of thought which aren't always considered "religions," such as atheism, humanism,
Communism/Marxism/Maoism, and Confucianism.
Those interested in reading further about the sociological definition of
religion and its relationship to culture may read Denise Cush's article in
DISKUS (vol. 5, 1999): "Potential
Pioneers of Pluralism: The Contribution of Religious Education to Intercultural
Education in Multicultural Societies." Useful information about cultures can
also be found in John B. Gatewood's
Intracultural Variability and
Problem-Solving, which repeats the Kluckhohn-Murray aphorism (1953):
Every human is in certain respects
a. like all other humans.
b. like some other humans.
c. like no other human.
When referring to the "size" of a religion, what is usually meant is its
number of adherents. Other measurements, such as how many churches or meeting
places a faith group owns or how many congregations/meeting groups there are,
can also be instructive, but are usually not used as a measure of overall size.
Measures of religiosity and the degree to which a religious tradition has a
meaningful impact on its adherents may be more important than raw adherent
counts, but such measures are not as readily available nor are they easily
comparable between groups.
A detailed description of what an adherent is, and the different types/levels of
adherents can be found on the
FAQ page.
There are five main methods for determining the number of adherents in a faith group:
For the purposes of this list of major religions, we have used adherent
counts or estimates based on self-identification. We have also favored
inclusive rather than exclusive adherent counts (meaning all people who are part
of a religious community, children as well as adults, rather than "full
communicants"). It should be remembered, however, that self-identification is
not the only legitimate measure of a religious group's size. In collecting
census or survey data based on self-identification statisticians find that
nearly everybody claims to belong to a religion. Some people claiming
membership in a certain denomination may actually attend religious services
regularly, contribute resources to the group, and be influenced by its teachings.
Other people may name the denomination, but choose it as their religion only
because they recall its name as the church their grandfather attended as boy.
Detailed analysis of the size of individual groups requires a knowledge of both
self-identification data as well as data based on organizational reporting.
Finally, let me make it clear that these definitions are simply working
definitions for the purposes of making this list. They should not be taken as
definitive outside of this context. Many of our reasons for defining the
parameters as we have done have to do with the availability of data. Other
definitions and parameters may be more meaningful or useful in other situations.
NOTE: The following material is not intended to provide
descriptions or summaries of these religions. This material is only intended to
describe the reasoning for listing groups as "major religions" and determining
their general size. (To learn more about these faith groups, we suggest the
Adherents.com links page,
which will direct you to other web sites.)
Christianity: David B. Barrett's World Christian
Encyclopedia (1994 update) gives an oft-cited figure of 1.9 billion
Christians (or about 33% of the world population), and projected that by the
year 2000 there will be 2.1 billion Christians in the world. The 2001 edition of
the World Christian Encyclopedia stated there were 2.1 billion Christians
in the world, or 33% of the total population. Regardless of the degree of
accuracy of this figure, Christianity, if taken as a whole, is unarguably the
largest world religion - the largest religion in the world. (Keep in mind that
although Christianity is the world's largest religion, it is an umbrella term
that comprises many different branches and denominations.)
See also: The
Christian Family Tree by Rev. Epke VanderBerg (Episcopal minister, Grand
Rapids, MI);
Classifying Protestant Denominations (General Social Survey project directed
by James A. Davis and Tom W. Smith. Funded by the National Science Foundation.);
Largest Christian
Populations (lists the Top 10 Countries with the Most Christians and the Top
10 U.S. Most Christian U.S. States);
Famous Christians.
For statistical purposes: Groups which self-identify as part of Christianity include (but are not limited to): African Independent Churches (AICs), the Aglipayan Church, Amish, Anglicans, Armenian Apostolic, Assemblies of God; Baptists, Calvary Chapel, Catholics, Christadelphians, Christian Science, the Community of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons"), Coptic Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches, Ethiopian Orthodox, Evangelicals, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Local Church, Lutherans, Methodists, Monophysites, Nestorians, the New Apostolic Church, Pentecostals, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterians, the Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventists, Shakers, Stone-Campbell churches (Disciples of Christ; Churches of Christ; the "Christian Church and Churches of Christ"; the International Church of Christ); Uniate churches, United Church of Christ/Congregationalists, the Unity Church, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Vineyard churches and others. These groups exhibit varying degrees of similarity, cooporation, communion, etc. with other groups. None are known to consider all other Chrisian sub-groups to be equally valid. David Barrett, an Evangelical Christian who is the compiler of religion statistics for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Christian Encyclopedia, includes all of the groups listed above in the worldwide statistics for Christianity.
Contemporary sociolgists and religious leaders generally consider pan-denominational classifications based not on historical denominational divisions but on current theological positions, organizational alignments, etc. to be more relevant. Such groupings include: Evangelicals, Pentecostals, "Great Commission Christians", "C. S. Lewis Christians", Liberal Protestants, Conservative Protestants, Fundamentalists, etc.
Islam: Contemporary figures for Islam are usually between 1 billion and 1.8 billion, with 1 billion being a figure frequently given in many comparative religion texts, probably because it's such a nice, round number. That figure appears to be dated, however. Relatively high birth rates in Muslim countries continue to make Islam a fast-growing religion. The largest and best known branches of Islam are Sunni and Shi'ite. More.
Many Muslims (and some non-Muslim) observers claim that there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Christians in the world. Adherents.com has no reason to dispute this. It seems likely, but we would point out that there are different opinions on the matter, and a Muslim may define "practicing" differently than a Christian. In any case, the primary criterion for the rankings on this page is self-identification, which has nothing to do with practice.
Smaller groups within Islam include Sufis (although some Sufis regard their practice of Sufism as pan-denominational or non-denominational), Druze, the U.S.-based Nation of Islam (previously known as "Black Muslims"), and Ahmadiyya. As is true with all major religions, there are adherents within all branches of Islam who consider some of or all of the other branches heterodox or not actually part of their religion. But these classifications are based primarily on historical lineage and self-identification. Protestations and disagreements based on exclusivistic internal concepts of belief or practice are normal, but are largely immaterial with regards to historical, taxonomic and statistical classification.
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: This is a highly
disparate group and not a single religion. Although atheists are a small subset
of this grouping, this category is not synonymous with atheism. People
who specify atheism as their religious preference actually make up less than one-half
of one percent of the population in many countries where much large numbers
claim no religious preference, such as the United States (13.2% nonreligious
according to ARIS study of 2001) and Australia (15% nonreligious).
Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman compiled country-by-country survey,
polling and census numbers relating to atheism, agnosticism, disbelief in God
and people who state they are non-religious or have no religious preference.
These data were published in the chapter titled "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and
Patterns" in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin,
Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005). Different type of data
collection methodologies using different types of questions showed a consistent
pattern: In most countries only a tiny number of people (zero to a fraction of 1
percent) will answer "atheism" or "atheist" when asked an open-ended question
about what their religious preference. A slightly larger number of people will
answer "yes" if asked pointedly if they are an atheist. A slightly larger number
than that will answer "no" when asked if they believe in any type of God,
deities, or Higher Power. A slightly larger number answer "no" when asked simply
if they "believe in God" (omitting wording indicating more nebulous, less
anthropomorphic conceptions of divinity). Finally, a larger number of people
answer "none" or "non-religious" when asked asked an open-ended queston about
what their religious preference is. Although figures vary for each country,
average numbers indicate that roughly half of the people who self-identify as "nonreligious"
also answer "yes" when asked if they believe in God or a Higher Power.
One portion of this broad grouping includes those who are best described as "nonreligious,"
i.e., those who are essentially passive with regards to organized religion,
generally affirming neither belief nor disbelief. They may be neither
contemplative about philosophy and spirituality nor involved in a religious/faith/philosophical
community. Although a certain percentage of people in many countries classify
themselves as nonreligious in surveys, there are few data indicating how many of
these fit the passive "nonreligious" criteria described above, versus those who
actually do contemplate such matters, but simply have their own personal
philosophy and no stated affiliation with an organized religion.
For the purposes of this list, this grouping also includes more proactive or
well-defined philosophies such as secular humanism, atheism, agnosticism, deism,
pantheism, freethought, etc., most of which can be classified as religions in
the sociological sense, albeit secular religions. A minority among atheists are
quite fervent in their beliefs and actively endeavor to proselytize atheism.
The "Secular/Nonreligious/etc." category is probably the most speculative
estimate in this list, as this segment of society is difficult to count. The
vast majority in this grouping are not aligned with any kind of membership
organization. Most figures come from census and survey data, which most
countries conduct only infrequently.
The highest figure we have for "Nonreligious" is 20% of the world population, or
about 1.2 billion: "Over 20 percent of the world's population does not claim any
allegiance to a religion. Most are agnostics. Others are atheists, who deny the
existence of God." (O'Brien, Joanne & Martin Palmer. The State of Religion
Atlas. Simon & Schuster: New York (1993). Pg 41.) But such a high figure is
difficult to support with current country-by-country statistics, and perhaps
reflects Communist-era official government statistics. Most current estimates of
the world number of secular/nonreligious/agnostic/atheist/etc. are between 800
and 1 billion.
Estimates for atheism alone (as a primary religious preference) range from 200
to 240 million. But these come primarily from China and former Soviet Union
nations (especially Russia). Prior to Communist takeovers of these regions and
government attempts to eradicate religion, both places had very high levels of
affiliation with organized religions (especially Islam, Christianity, Buddhism
and Taoism), as well as high levels of participation in and belief in
traditional local traditions such as
shamanism, ancestor ceremonies, spiritism, etc. Since the fall
of Communism in former Soviet nations and the relaxation of anti-religious
policies in China, observed religious affiliation and activity has increased
dramatically, especially in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam.
China probably does have the largest number of actual atheists of any country in
the world and many Russians clearly remain atheists. But at this point, it is
difficult to accurately determine how many of those classified as atheists or
nonreligious during Communist-era USSR and by the current Chinese government are
actually atheists according to their personal beliefs, and how many are
unregistered religious adherents or participants in less-organized traditional
systems that are oriented around ancestors, animism, shamanism, etc. Many people
are unaware, for instance, that China has one of the largest, most active
Christian communities in the world, and that in many former Soviet nations
religions such as shamanism, Islam and Russian Orthodoxy remained even while
official government reports announced the elimination of religion in these
regions.
In the Western world, Europe is by far the place with the most self-avowed
nonreligious, atheists and agnostics, with the nonreligious proportion of the
population particularly high in Scandinavia. The Encyclopedia Britannica
reports approximately 41 million atheists in Europe. The self-described
nonreligious segment of society in Australia and New Zealand is also high, at
around 15%. In Australia less than a tenth of one percent described themselves
as atheists in the latest national census (1996). In the U.S. about 13.2% of the
population describe themselves as nonreligious, 0.5% describe themselves as
agnostic, and a smaller number describe themselves as atheist (Kosmin, ARIS/American
Religious Identification Survey, City University of New York, 2001).
Zuckerman (2005) compiled numbers of people who don't believe in God, based
primarily on polling and survey data, for every country in the world. He totaled
the survey-based and poll-based estimates of non-believers from the top 50
countries with the highest proportion of people who do not believe in God, and
added to this number the non-believers from highly populous countries (Mexico,
Poland, Moldova Romania, Georgia, Uzbekistan, India, Ireland, and Chile). The
remaining countries had proportionately miniscule populations of atheists/agnostics/non-believers.
Zuckerman concluded, "the grand total worldwide number of atheists, agnostics,
and non-believers in God is somewhere between 504,962,830 and 749,247,571. These
minimum/maximum numbers are conservative estimates; were one to factor in a mere
.25% of such highly populated countries as Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria,
Burma, Tanzania, and Iran, as non-believers in God, estimates would be
significantly larger. Also, these numbers are only for non-believers of God,
specifically. Were one to include all 'non-religious' people in general, the
numbers would nearly double... nonbelievers in God as a group come in fourth
place after Christianity (2 billion), Islam (1.2 billion), and Hinduism (900
million) in terms of global ranking of commonly-held belief systems."
Zuckerman states that adding the "non-religious" segment of the world population
would to his calculated maximum of 749,247,571 (about 750 million) atheists,
agnostic and non-believers in God would yield a number nearly twice as large --
just under 1.5 billion. This number is not, however, the number of people
who should be classified in the "Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist" category,
because half of this larger number is based solely on belief in a single
theological proposition (belief/non-belief in God), rather than on a person's
religious affiliation/religious preference. A large proportion of people in the
surveys Zuckerman combined to arrive at this total expressly are adherents of
named religions (such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Chinese traditional
religion, Unitarianism and Christianity). Many of these people who do not
believe in God, deities, or a Higher Power are nevertheless devout adherents of
their various faiths, or even clergy. They are enumerated in the list above as
adherents of those faiths, and not counted among nonreligious, atheists or
agnostics because their primary religious identity is not atheism or agnosticism.
It should be remembered that not all strains of all religions entail belief in
God, a Higher Power or deities.
It can not be said based on Zuckerman's analysis that "1.5 billion people
do not believe in God." A large proportion of the people classified as "non-religious"
expressly do believe in God or a Higher Power. The 750 million figure is
already an attempt to estimate the total population of people who do not believe
in God.
For the year 2000, David B. Barrett (Encyclopedia Britannica and World
Christian Encyclopedia, 2001) classified 150,089,508 (2.5% of world's
population) as atheists, and 768,158,954 people as "Nonreligious" (12.7% of the
world) for a total of 918,248,462 (15.2% of the world). These calculations by
Barrett include all agnostics and others in our "Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist"
category. Our figure of 1.1 billion in this category is considerably higher, and
takes into consideration Zuckerman's analysis as well. Of the people in this
grouping, it is estimated that 40 to 50% have a stated traditionally "theistic"
belief in God, deities or a Higher Power.
A country-by-country breakdown of statistics atheists, agnostics, people who do
not believe in God, and self-described non-religious people, with figures based
mostly on surveys and polling data, can be found online in the Adherents.com
main database. A summary page shows data for the
50 countries with
the most atheists.
All those who profess religious belief are not necessarily registered members of
a church or denomination, but in the U.S. the majority of professed Christians
and adherents of other religions are also officially affiliated with an
organization. The majority of agnostics, atheists and of course nonreligious are
not members of an organization associated with their position.
It may also be noted that the estimated figures presented in this particular "Major
Religions" summary list are based on self-identification. Among all groups there
exists a proportion (sometimes significant and sometimes small) which are only
nominal adherents. This segment may identify themselves as members of a certain
religion and accept the religion as their primary philosophical system, yet not
actively practice the religion in the normative sense. This segment may be
thought of as being functionally nonreligious or "secularized," but this segment
is not what is meant by the "nonreligious" category on this Major Religious list.
Accurate estimates of the size of this group are difficult to obtain because
national government censuses only ask about preferred affiliation, not about
religious practice. There are data available from non-census sampling surveys
that ask about practice and belief, but these are usually limited in scope to
narrow questions such as church attendance, and do not entirely reveal the
proportion of society which is non-attending, but nevertheless privately
practicing and/or believing. In many countries (Germany is a good example) there
is also segment of the population which is counted as adherents of a religion,
but which do not personally profess belief in that religion. (Adherents.com
has some such data in its main list under "attendance" and under "poll".)
The use of the term "nonreligious" or "secular" here refers to belief or
participation in systems which are not traditionally labeled "religions." Of
course, in the absence of traditional religions, society exhibits the same
behavioral, social and psychological phenomena associated with religious
cultures, but in association with secular, political, ethnic, commercial or
other systems. Marxism and Maoism, for instance, had their scriptures, authority,
symbolism, liturgy, clergy, prophets, proselyting, etc. Sports, art, patriotism,
music, drugs, mass media and social causes have all been observed to fulfill
roles similar to religion in the lives of individuals -- capturing the
imagination and serving as a source of values, beliefs and social interaction.
In a broader sense, sociologists point out that there are no truly "secular
societies," and that the word "nonreligious" is a misnomer. Sociologically
speaking, "nonreligious" people are simply those who derive their worldview and
value system primarily from alternative, secular, cultural or otherwise
nonrevealed systems ("religions") rather than traditional religious systems.
Like traditional religions, secular systems (such as
Communism,
Platonism, Freudian psychology, Nazism, pantheism, atheism, nationalism, etc.)
typically have favored spokespeople and typically claim to present a universally
valid and applicable Truth. Like traditional religions, secular systems are
subject to both rapid and gradual changes in popularity, modification, and
extinction.
These are some of the factors which make estimating the size of the secular (nonreligious,
agnostic, atheist, etc.) segment of society difficult.
Detailed statistics on atheism can be found in papers by Phil Zuckerman (Atheism:
Contemporary Rates and Patterns) and Andrew Greeley and Wolfgang Jagodzinski
(The Demand for
Religion: Hard Core Atheism and "Supply Side" Theory).
Hinduism: The highest figure we've seen for Hinduism (1.4
billion, Clarke, Peter B., editor), The Religions of the World: Understanding
the Living Faiths, Marshall Editions Limited: USA (1993); pg. 125.) is
actually higher than the highest figure we've seen for Islam. But this is an
abberation. World Hinduism adherent figures are usually between 850 million and
one billion. More.
Buddhism: World estimates for Buddhism vary between 230 and
500 million, with most around 350 million.
More.
Chinese traditional religion: In older world religion books
the estimates of the total number of adherents of Confucianism range up
to 350 million. Other books, including older versions of the Encyclopedia
Britannica, have listed Chinese religionists under "Taoism," with adherent
estimates up to about 200 million. But these figures are all based on counts of
the same segment of Chinese people throughout the world -- people practicing
what is, sociologically, more accurately called Chinese traditional religion,
and often called Chinese folk religion. The word "traditional" is
preferable to "folk" because "folk" might imply only the local, tribal customs
and beliefs such as ancestor worship and nature beliefs. But "Chinese
traditional religion" is meant to categorize the common religion of the majority
Chinese culture: a combination of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, as well as
the traditional non-scriptural/local practices and beliefs. For most religious
Chinese who do not explicitly follow a different religion such as Islam or
Christianity, these different ancient Chinese philosophies and traditions form a
single, seamless composite religious culture and worldview.
Communist laws banning most religion and recent rapid changes introducing
increasing openness make accurate estimates difficult to obtain. Recent figures
for the number of "Chinese religionists" include 220 and 225 million. Barrett (World
Christian Encyclopedia, 2001) classified 384,806,732 "Chinese folk-religionists,"
6,298,597 "Confucianists" and 2,654,514 "Taoists," or about 394 million total.
In comparative religion texts Confucianism, Taoism and Chinese Buddhism are
sometimes addressed in three separate chapters, and sometimes treated in one
chapter as "Chinese religion." Even today there are very valid reasons for
distinguishing Taoism from Confucianism, and distinguishing both from Chinese
Buddhism and non-scriptural Chinese folk religion. For religious, philosophical,
historical and scriptural purposes, distinguishing between these separate
traditions is quite manageable. There are a number of people who identify
themselves specifically as "Taoist" (In 1990-1991 there were 23,000 in the U.S.,
1,720 in Canada, and 324 in New Zealand, for example.) There are a smaller
number of people, including non-Chinese, who consciously practice a "pure" form
of Taoist religion (often
Tao-Te-Ching-based), unconcerned with Confucianism,
Chinese folk practices, ancestor devotion, etc.
Fifty years ago religious Taoism was one of the largest, strongest institutions
in China. Since the Cultural Revolution and the government's campaign to destroy
non-Communist religion, Taoism lost, for the most part, the main mechanism
through which it remained distinct from the larger Chinese religious environment:
its large numbers of temples and Taoist clergy. Although Islam, Buddhism and
Christianity have bounced back and even surpassed pre-Communist levels in China,
Taoism has not. Today, despite the existence of some self-identified Taoists and
pure Taoists in the West, Taoism is difficult to isolate as a large, independent
religion from a statistical and sociological perspective. Hence, in this list,
which is explicitly statistical and sociological in perspective, Taoism should
be thought of as a major branch of Chinese traditional religion.
The situation is similar with Confucianism. In the latest edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica lists over 5 million Confucianists in its summary
table of world religions. Their note explains that these are Confucianists
outside of China, mostly in Korea. (The Encyclopedia lists "Chinese folk
religion" separately.) It is true that recent census data show about five
million Koreans name Confucianism as their religion, and there are even some
Confucian schools and institutes in Korea. But the Adherents.com list leaves
these Confucianists under the "Chinese traditional religion" grouping, rather
than separating them based only on what country they live in.
primal-indigenous: Alternatively termed "tribal religionists,
"ethnic religionists," or "animists," estimates range from 100 million to 457
million. (457 million is the combined total for "Ethnoreligionists," "Animists,"
and "Shamanists" from Barrett's 2001 world religion calculations. But this total
includes all African Traditional religionists, which we have listed as a
separate category.) This group also includes, but is not limited to, people
whose native religion is a form of shamanism or paganism (such as millions of
people in traditional Siberian shamanist cultures). Obviously this is broad
classification, not a single religion. This grouping includes thousands of
distinct religious traditions, mostly the religious-cultural worldviews of
peoples who have been grouped together in one category because they are pre-literate
or less advanced technologically than Western/European cultures. There are
similarities among many primal-indigenous religions/cultures, such as use of an
oral rather than written canon, and a lack of rigid boundaries between the
sacred and secular (profane) aspects of life. But few, if any, generalizations
hold for all groups.
Previously, adherents of African traditional religion were grouped here, and
many religious statisticians would continue to do so. But adherents of African
traditional religions and diasporic derivatives are currently listed ennumerated
separately on this page. [See below.] Most remaining
primal-indigenous religionists are in Asia (including India).
African Traditional & African Diasporic Religions: It may seem
incongruous to distinguish African primal (traditional) religions from the
general primal-indigenous category. But the "primal-indigenous" religions are
primarily tribal and composed of pre-technological peoples. While there is
certainly overlap between this category and non-African primal-indigenous
religious adherents, there are reasons for separating the two, best illustrated
by focusing specifically on Yoruba, which is probably the largest African
traditional religious/tribal complex. Yoruba was the religion of the vast Yoruba
nation states which existed before European colonialism and its practitioners
today -- certainly those in the Caribbean, South America and the U.S.-- are
integrated into a technological, industrial society, yet still proclaim
affiliation to this African-based religious system. Cohesive rituals, beliefs
and organization were spread throughout the world of Yoruba (and other major
African religious/tribal groups such as Fon), to an extent characteristic of
nations and many organized religions, not simply tribes. Historians might point
to Shinto and even Judaism as the modern manifestations of what originally began
as the religions of tribal groups who then became nations.
Just as Yoruba may legitimately be distinguished from the general "primal-indigenous"
classification, valid arguments could be made that other religious traditions
such as
Native
American
religion (less than 100,000 self-identified U.S. adherents)
and Siberian shamanism should also be separate. But African traditional religion
has been singled out because of its much larger size, its considerable spread
far beyond its region of origin and the remarkable degree to which it remains an
influential, identifiable religion even today.
African Diasporic Religions are those which have arisen, typically in the
Western hemisphere, among Africans who retained much of their traditional
culture and beliefs but adapted to new environments. These include Santeria,
Candomble, Vodoun, Shango, etc. In many areas or subgroups the African elements
exist alongside an overlay of European-based elements borrowed from the
economically dominant culture, from influences such as Catholicism and Kardecian
spiritism. The fact that these religions exist within technologically advanced
cultures alongside "classical" organized religions (such as Christianity) is one
of the reasons for grouping these adherents separately from the general "primal-indigenous"
category. Adherents of African diasporic religions typically have no real tribal
affiliation, may be converts to African-based religion, and are not necessarily
African or black in their race and ethnicity.
Regarding Santeria alone: It is difficult to determine worldwide numbers of
Santerians, as the religion is syncretistic, goes by different names (including
Lukumi, and Camdomble in Brazil) and has been actively suppressed by the
Communist government in the country where it is perhaps the largest: Cuba.
Estimates of Santerians include 800,000 in the U.S. and one million in Brazil,
plus 3 million in Cuba (although many Cuban practitioners identify themselves
officially as Catholics or Communists/atheists). A worldwide number of people
who at least sometimes self-identify as adherents of this loosely-organized
religious category might be 3 million, but this is just an estimate.
Regarding Vodoun: For the most part, Voodoo (or "Vodoun") is not an organized
religion, but a form of African traditional religion practiced primarily in
Haiti, Cuba and Benin. Often blended with Catholicism. Other methods of counting
adherents could count practitioners as general primal-indigenous religionists
(tribal) and/or Christians. Vodoun is typically classified as an Afro-Caribbean
and/or Afro-Brazilian syncretistic religion, along with Santeria (Lukumi) and
Candomble. Some sources refer to Vodoun as the Haitian form of Santeria; other
sources refer to Santeria as a form of Vodoun. From a worldwide and historical
perspective, Vodoun is properly classified as a branch of African diasporic
religion, in the same way that Lutheranism is a subset of Christianity.
Regarding the number of practitioners, the ReligiousTolerance.org web page about
Vodoun states: "50 million. Estimates of the number of adherents are hopelessly
unreliable. Some sources give numbers in the range of 2.8 to 3.2 million." A
figure of 50 million is doubtful because this is primarily a Caribbean religious
movement and there are only 30 million people in the Caribbean, the majority of
whom are clearly self-identified Christians.
In the Americas (especially the Caribbean, Brazil and the United States), there
is a large number of people who practice some form of Yoruba diasporan religion,
especially forms of Santeria and Vodoun. But it should be noted that many
practitioners of Voodoo would name something else, i.e. Catholicism, as their
religion. Even those who practice Santeria or Voodoo more often then they
practice Catholicism mostly identify themselves as Catholic.
We asked an expert for feedback about our comments on Yoruba religion.
Osunmilaya, a practitioner and scholar on the subject wrote:
I would make only a few changes. Instead of the term "Santerian" perhaps the term "ab'orisha," which refers to both initiated and uninitiated devotees, would be more acceptable. Some practitioners don't like the term Santeria at all because it implies that the tradition is a minor, heretical sect of Catholicism.
Vodoun is more properly classified as Dahomean and Fon in origin, not Yoruba. It does not appear in Brazil in the Haitian form, to my admittedly limited knowledge of this tradition. However, some Candomble houses may identify as Dahomean nation.
A critical component of the spiritist influence upon the Yoruba traditions as practiced in the Western hemisphere is the pervasive influence of the BaKongo tradition, known as Palo Monte and Umbanda. What I have seen in practice has a lot of Kardecian influence, but I expect to see what I observed with the Santeria tradition: that as one becomes more immersed into the actual tradition, that the outer layer of Catholicism peels away to reveal a tradition that, in reality, is very much unsyncretized. (See Wande Abimbola's discussion in Ifa Will Mend Our Broken World.)
Osunmilaya's comments are very helpful. The only comment we might add is that
there are knowledgeable historians of Yoruba religion in the West who believe
Yoruba, in addition to the Dahomean and Fon traditions, played a major role in
the development of modern Africa-Haitian religion.
The point about use of the term "Santerian" is an important one to keep in mind.
Although "Santeria" is commonly used in comparative religion/academic literature,
and it is becoming increasingly accepted among practitioners of the Western
Yoruba/Orisha religious tradition, it is a term imposed by outsiders and
its etymological roots have meaning that many in the tradition find offensive or
at least inaccurate.
Spiritism: According to the 1997 Encyclopedia Britannica
Book of the Year, there were 10,292,500 adherents of "Spiritism" in the
world. But a recent census from Brazil indicates 15 million professed
spiritists (practitioners of Umbanda, for instance), as well as a fringe
following (not officially professed, but possibly quite avid) of up to 50
million. But many of those can be classified in the Yoruba religion category. As
a newer and somewhat less organized grouping than some other "major religions,"
accurate numbers for Spiritism are difficult to come by. An estimate of 20
million worldwide seems justifiable--a grouping which would include but not be
limited to strictly Kardecian groups. But a worldwide number which eliminated
adherents who are primarily Yoruba religionists more so than Spiritists would be
smaller, and more in line with the Encyclopedia Britannica estimate. Key
aspects of Spiritism, or Spiritualism, are widely accepted in popular society in
many countries beyond the bounds of those who are officially adherents of these
movements. The boundaries between Spiritism and other categories, especially
Christianity (especially Catholic and Baptist), Yoruba religion and primal-indigenous
religions, can be quite uncertain.
Sikhism: In the late 1990s the highest estimate we had for the
number of Sikhs in the world was 20 million, from www.sikhs.org. Most estimates
were between 16 and 18 million. About 80% of the world's Sikhs live in the
province of Punjab, in India. Barrett's latest publications estimate 23 million
Sikhs worldwide. More.
Juche: This section moved to separate
Juche page due to
length.
Judaism: Estimates of the world's Jewish population range from
about 12 million to over 17 million. On the high end of realistic estimates of
how many people would consider themselves Jews seems to be about 15 million, but
a figure this high would include a large number of non-practicing, purely ethnic
Jews. Judaism is far more important in areas such as history, literature,
science, politics, and religion, than its relatively small numbers might suggest.
The American Jewish Year Book published in 2000 by the American Jewish
Committee, reports there are currently 5.7 million Jews in the United States,
362,000 in Canada, and 13,191,500 worldwide.
More.
Babi & Baha'i faiths: At least 98% of the adherents of the
Babi & Baha'i faiths belong to the same church/denomination/religious body, the
Baha'i World Faith (or simply "Baha'i Faith") with headquarters in Haifa,
Israel. One might think that this should make Baha'i records fairly
straightforward and easily obtainable. But statistical practices differ in each
country and figures are not always released to the public. Most recent published
estimates of the world Baha'i population are about 6.5 million. This is the
figure provided in current Baha'i publications. A recent, updated estimate in
the 1998 Encyclopedia Britannica is reportedly 7.67 million, higher than any
Baha'i-provided figure we have seen. The accuracy of all of these figures is
difficult to determine, and the organization does not provide a breakdown of
membership data for each country.
As with most religious groups, organizationally reported adherent counts include
significant numbers of nominal members, or people who no longer actively
participate, yet still identify themselves as adherents. There are valid
arguments that some of the "mass conversions" have resulted in adherents with
little or no acculturation into the new religious system. As is typical with a
religious group made up primarily of converts, Baha'is who drift from active
participation in the movement are less likely to retain nominal identification
with the religion -- because it was not the religion of their parents or the
majority religion of the surrounding culture. On the other hand, there are no
countries in which people are automatically assigned to the Baha'i Faith at
birth (as is the case with Islam, Christianity, Shinto, Buddhism, and other
faiths), so their numbers aren't inflated with people who have never willingly
participated in or been influenced by the religion while adults.
On balance, while official Baha'i figures are not a measure of active
participants, the proportion of participating adherents among claimed adherents
is thought to be higher than average among the "major religions" on this list.
The Baha'i community is remarkably active and influential in religious matters
on both global and local levels, especially given their relatively small numbers
compared to some other religions.
More.
Jainism: The highest published figure we've seen for Jainism
is 10 million, but this is clearly incorrect. Almost all estimates for the world
population are under 5 million. This religion is almost entirely confined to
India and to ethnic Jains. It's importance historically and philosophically far
outstrips its relatively small number of adherents.
More.
Shinto: Shinto is one of the "classic" eleven or twelve "major
world religions." But adherent counts for this religion are problematic and
often misunderstood. In a nutshell, Shinto is simply the indigenous ethnic
practice of Japan and its importance is almost entirely historical and cultural,
not contemporary. The number of adherents of Shinto are often reported as being
around 100 million, or around 75 to 90% of the Japanese population. These
figures come from the Shukyo Nenkan (Religions Yearbook), put out by the
Ministry of Education & Bureau of Statistics, and they obtain their figures by
asking religious bodies for statistics. The Shinto religious bodies have on
record most Japanese citizens because of laws established in the 17th Century
which required registration with the Shinto shrines. Essentially everybody
within local "shrine districts" were counted as adherents. This is comparable to
certain Catholic and Protestant nations in Europe where the majority of people
have been Christianed or otherwise counted as a member of the state church, but
where large proportions of the population are non-practicing.
The difference is that in those European countries, those people are at least
nominally adherents of the religion that claims them. "Nominally" here means if
asked their religion, they can recall the name of the church they were baptized
into as an infant, and don't mind citing that as their religious preference. In
Japan, the majority of adherents of Shinto, as claimed by the Shinto
organizations, don't even consider themselves adherents, even nominally. In
polls, only about 3.3% of the Japanese people give Shinto as their religion. A
high world-wide figure for people who consider themselves primarily
practitioners of Shinto would be about 4 million. Certainly most Japanese people
participate in holidays which have Shinto roots, but in this list we are trying
to track self-identification, not general vestigial influence. Also, the
strongest active religions which have Shinto roots (such as Tenrikyo) no
longer claim to be "branches" of Shinto, and can be listed separately.
Zoroastrianism: This religion is in every major comparative
religion text book, yet during the 1990s and for a few years thereafter it was
actually listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the "major religion
nearest extinction." The Zoroastrians (or "Parsis") are sometimes credited with
being the first monotheists and having had significant influence in the
formation of current, larger world religions. To whatever degree that is true,
some observers believed Zoroastrianism was in a precarious state and its
position as a "major" contemporary world religion was tenuous. Prior to some
increased reforms, most Zoroastrians did not believe in allowing conversion.
They had even stricter rules than Jews about whether or not children of mixed
marriages would be considered Zoroastrians. Until about 2002, most published
estimates for the world total of Zoroastrians were 100 to 125 thousand. More
recent publications of many major encyclopedias an world alamanacs include
population estimates of 2 to 3.5 million. The government of India has actively
encouraged the growth of its Zoroastrian population. Since the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001 and subsequent U.S.-led intervention in the Middle East,
the Parsees of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been receiving less
persecution than before, and have been less reticent about identifying
themselves, and there seems to be an increased respect for and interest in this
classical Persian religion which was once one of the largest in the world. The
current estimate posted on this page of millions of Zoroastrians in the world (rather
than 100,000 to 150,000) is still under evaluation. The number does not
represent an exponential explosion the number of actual Zoroastrians (although
there has been some growth in numbers), but is a result of re-evaluation of the
existing population. The majority of the world's Zoroastrians are Parsees who
now thought to live in the Middle East. Years of suppression under Muslim-dominated
cultures and governments has doubtless led to erosion in some aspects of their
community, relative to their co-religionists in India and even among expatriate
populations in places such as the United States and the United Kingdom - places
with far greater levels of continuous religious freedom.
Cao Dai: Most of the figures for this group are around 2
million, but we've seen some that say around 8 million. It's almost entirely a
Vietnamese movement, and not even as important there as it used to be. The
official Cao Dai website states that there are about 6 million adherents
worldwide, and elsewhere states that there are 5 million in Vietnam, but points
out that the religion is largely paralyzed there due to repression by the
government.
Tenrikyo: The description of Tenrikyo on the Tenrikyo
University website (http://www.tenri-u.ac.jp/en/history/tenrikyo.html) states: "Tenrikyo
has spread throughout Japan and also to various countries around the world. At
present, there are about two million followers and more than 17,000 churches.
Moreover, churches and mission centers have been established in about 30
countries around the world." It has missions all over the world and a strong
evangelical ethic. Outside of Japan the countries with the most adherents seem
to be the U.S. (especially Hawaii), South Korea, Brazil, and Taiwan, although
only in Japan do Tenris make up an appreciable proportion of a country's total
population. In January 1999 Tenrikyo published country-by-country statistics
showing nearly 1,000 churches or mission stations outside of Japan (in
over 30 different countries), and over 37,000 in Japan. These figures dwarf the
international statistics of some "classical world religions," such as
Zoroastrianism and Jainism.
Tenrikyo is probably one of the largest, most fully-developed independent modern
religious systems which most Westerners know nothing about. Tenrikyo offers
impressive opportunities for sociological, historical and comparative religion
research which are relatively unexplored by the academic community. One of the
most famous modern adherents of Tenrikyo was the author Avram Davidson.
More
Scientology: One often sees Scientology listed in books and
newspapers as having over 8 million adherents. Where does this figure come from?
It comes from the Church of Scientology, just as most church membership figures
come from churches themselves. Our data indicate that they cite this figure
because it is the total number of people who have participated in Church of
Scientology activities since the inception of the church. But their figure does
not include people who have only received services from their drug rehab groups
and other non-Church facilities. Narconon's clientele are not counted as Church
members unless and until they become Scientologists. As Narconon's mission is
drug rehabilitation and not Church recruitment, the percentage of Narconon
clients who become Church members is small.
The latest edition of the organization's publication What Is Scientology? lists 373 churches and missions (plus hundreds of "related organizations" which are not directly comparable to congregations) in 129 countries. (Four new countries, for a total of 133, have been opened since the publication of the book, according to a church spokesperson.) According to church officials, this publication states that in 1997 the number of people who participated in Scientology services for the first time was 642,596 internationally and that the circulation of internal Church magazines which are sent to their members was 6,630,000. Hartley Patterson, a critic of Scientology, has speculated that the circulation figure may be based on the total press run for three publications.
Adherents.com has no argument with Scientology statistics, but for the purposes of this list of "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Size," we use a different standard of counting adherents than they have used to arrive at their 8 million figure. (Figures presented here are generally estimates of primary, self-identified religious affiliation.) There are not 8 million people who, if taking a survey, would name Scientology as their religious preference. One might generously estimate up to one million worldwide, but the actual number who would fit this criterion is probably under a half million. Adding up organizationally-reported membership on a state-by-state, country-by-country basis would yield a current membership figure of about 750,000, according to a church critic. As with all religions, the complete body of adherents represent a spectrum of participation, including fully active members as well as non-attending or disengaged sympathizers.
Realistically, a figure lower than 750,000 seems be more reasonable for this page's listing. Some documents suggest that even the tabulation of 750,000 based on country-by-country/state-by-state organizationally-provided data is quite out of date. Internal documents suggest 100,000 active members -- which would easily yield an estimate of a total of 600,000 or more, including one-time members, lapsed members, and strong supporters.
This might cause some people to think the church's figures are inaccurate, or it might seem like we are being harsh to ignore their figure and estimate such a low one. To put these figures into perspective, compare them to those of other major religions. There is no reason to believe that less than 8 million people have willingly participated in Scientology activities and actively studied at least some of its teachings. Large numbers of people have derived benefit from participation in church activities and church-sponsored programs. But people rarely call themselves Scientologists mainly because their parents don't call themselves Scientologists. Membership in the Church of Scientology does not necessarily preclude membership in another religious organization. A percentage of the claimed members will indeed affirm membership in the organization, while at the same time citing another religion as their primary religious preference.
If one eliminated from the total number of Christians in the world all those who are counted as Christians only because they identify themselves as such in a survey or census, even though they never actually attend Christian services, study Christian literature, or make behavioral changes based on Christian teachings beyond general societal norms, one might obtain a similar downgrade in actual number of effective adherents.
Despite such a "downgrade" from official Church of Scientology estimates, it may be noted that in a recent large-scale independent survey of religious identification (NSRI, Barry Kosmin et al, City University of New York 1990), enough people in the United States named Scientology as religion that it was among the top 10 largest religions in the country, with more members than the Baha'i Faith, Sikhism or Neo-Pagan/Wiccan groups. Independent sources indicate that the strongest communities of Scientologists are in California and the United Kingdom, as well as in Clearwater, Florida (where the main training center is located).
Some people have commented on the fact that this page lists an estimate of
500,000 (previously 750,000) Scientologists worldwide, while the
Religion in the U.S. web
page refers to 45,000 Scientologists in the U.S. Some people have mistakenly
concluded that this means the overwhelming majority of Scientologists live
outside the U.S., or that one of the figures is simply "wrong." The two figures
are not directly comparable. Simply put, these two figures are from different
sources and are based on different methodologies and critera. The U.S.
figure of 45,000 comes directly from the Kosmin NSRI survey of 1990. The
worldwide figure is as a conglomerate figure, using different criteria (as
explained elsewhere on this page), based on official organizational as well as
critical sources. The larger figure would include lapsed members, as well as
people who are are adherents of Scientology, but also identify with another
religious group, and name that group in a survey or census.
Unitarian-Universalism: Being completely opposed to fixed
doctrine (which they refer to as "dogma"), but affirming certain principles, the
Unitarian Universalists (or simply "Unitarians" as they prefer to be called in
some countries) are quite different from other major religions. Since 1995 the
primary UU organization has affirmed officially that it is not a subset of
Christianity (although its roots are Christian), but encompasses
spirituality from all the major world religions as well as
primal-indigenous/tribal faiths. But it should be kept in mind that there are
self-avowed Christian Unitarians, Buddhist Unitarians, Pagan Unitarians, etc. In
1990, 500,000 Americans claimed to be Unitarian-Universalists, three times the
official organizational count of enrolled members, loosely indicating that
Unitarian-Universalism is the general preferred philosophy of far more people
than actually participate in or contribute to the congregations and
organizations. More.
Rastafarian: Because of the loosely-organized structure of
Rastafarianism, and because many Rastafarians are nominal but non-participating
members of larger religious groups, precise size estimates are difficult. We've
seen total world estimates of about 200,000. We've seen an estimate of 700,000
in a couple of places. Leonard E. Barrett, author of The Rastafarians,
estimates there are 800,000 Rastas worldwide, more than 2 million if one counts
followers of the lifestyle but not the faith. Based on other data we believe a
figure as high as this would have to include many Jamaicans who are strong
Rastafarian supporters or enthusiasts, but who are also at least partially or
nominally adherents of mainstream Protestant and Catholic denominations as well.
There are multiple reasons why Rastafarians are typically not counted as one of
the major world religions: They are relatively new, having originated
only in this century. They aren't particularly widespread worldwide. (They
are mostly in Caribbean nations, esp. Jamaica, as well as the United Kingdom and
the U.S.) They are sometimes classified as a Christian sect because they use the
Bible as their primary religious text (but they generally use the Hebrew Bible).
They are smaller than religious groups usually listed as "major world
religions."
Neo-Paganism: Neo-Paganism is an umbrella term for modern
revivals of ancient ethnic and magickal traditions. These are usually
polytheistic, but many Neo-Pagans consider their faith pantheistic, and many
other concepts of deity can be found among Neo-Pagans as well. Subdivisions
within Neo-Paganism include Wicca, Magick, Druidism, Asatru, neo-Native American
religion and others.
Only recently has Neo-Paganism become a movement of any significant size and visibility. Solid statistics on Neo-Paganism on a worldwide scale are essentially non-existent, but it is a rapidly growing religion/religious category. Estimates regarding its worldwide size range widely--from under one hundred thousand to over four million. Independent surveys and government-based figures are not indicative of the higher estimates provided by Neo-Pagan and Wiccan organizations, but there may be a variety of reasons for this.
There are two reasons why some might argue that Neo-Paganism should not be listed as a major religion on this page: 1) It might be said that Neo-Paganism is not a single religion, but an umbrella term for many disparate religions. But upon closer examination of the movement, one finds that despite drawing upon such disparate sources as European witchcraft, Norse mythology, Druidism, and Egyptian, Greek, and Native American ancient religions, Neo-Pagans as a whole have a remarkably cohesive, identifiable culture and generally shared value set, even more so than religions such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism when taken as a whole. 2) It could also be said that Neo-Paganism could be classified as a subset of primal-indigenous religion. Though it has roots in primal ethnic religions, Neo-Paganism is something distinct, clearly drawing much of its identity from Gardnerian principles introduced in the 1930s. Neo-Paganism is distinct from the primal ethnic religions of ancient pre-industrial societies just as Buddhism has roots in, but is distinct from, Hinduism. So we are including Neo-Paganism on this list because the most recent sociological work in the field indicates it is a distinct religion, and because it is increasingly significant.
There were 768,400 Neo-pagans (largest subset were Wiccans) in the U.S. in
the year 2000, according to the Wiccan/Pagan Poll, conducted by the Covenant of
the Goddess (CoG) beginning in late July, 1999. [Online source:
http://www.cog.org/cogpoll_final.html] Researchers may also be interested in
Isaac Bonewits' succinct web page,
How Many "Pagans" Are There?
Bonewits identifies reasons for enumeration, difficulties in doing so, and
concludes by estimating the Neopagan population at "from half a million to
several million people in the USA and Canada."
The following groups are religions, but have not been included in this list of major religions primarily for one or more of the following reasons:
Mandeans: The Encyclopedia Britannica lists Mandeans separately,
but they only have about 45,000 adherents in two countries, meaning
they're far smaller than many new religious movements the Encyclopedia lumps
together under "New Religionists." As small as the Mandeans are, we are not
listing them as one of the largest "Major Religions." Britannica's decision to
list Mandeans separately, while not listing larger but newer religions is due
the their list's criteria, which emphasizes long-established yet post-literate
religions. This Adherents.com listing, on the other hand, is based on
contemporary size, without regard to age.
PL Kyodan: They currently claim about 1 million adherents and 500
churches in 10 countries. But they're almost entirely in Japan. The group has a
few branches in North America and Europe, and perhaps twenty in South America.
So there is some spread beyond its home country, but with only about 500
branches worldwide, and with some question as to whether it has really emerged
from it's original Shinto matrix, it may be inappropriate to call it a distinct
major religion.
Ch'ondogyo: About 3 million adherents total. Their numbers are
almost entirely confined to Korea, however. Apparently a fusion of Christianity
and traditional Korean religion. In North Korea, once Ch'ondogyo's center, where
it was, for a time, the country's second or third largest religion, it has
essentially been co-opted by the government and turned into a hollow appendage
of Juche.
Wonbulgyo: Another new Korean religion. The claim about 400 branches in
Korea, and 30 in North America and Europe. They make some claims to be an
emerging world religion, but as they call themselves "Won Buddhism," we include
them within the greater body of Buddhism. Lively, but probably less than
150,000 adherents, making it even smaller than Zoroastrianism.
Vodoun: Vodoun is classified here as a subset of
African diasporic religion.
New Age: New Age is an incredibly eclectic category, not a single
religion. Although a large number of people hold beliefs which have been
categorized as New Age, or participate in New Age practices, only a tiny
percentage of people actually identify "New Age" as their religion. At this
point "New Age" is more the umbrella term for a broad movement, rather than a
religion. Some previous enthusiasts of New Age movements now prefer to be called
pagans or Neo-Pagans.
Seicho-No-Ie: This organization is large (perhaps 2 to 3 million
members) and appears somewhat like a typical New Asian syncretistic religion,
but its literature states that it is an interdenominational organization
and not a religion. Furthermore, it does not seem to have spawned a distinctive
religious culture anywhere outside of Japan, and perhaps not even in Japan --
certainly not to the degree that groups such as PL Kyodan and Tenrikyo have.
Falun Dafa/Falun Gong: This is a relatively new movement (started in the
mid-1980s) from China which purports to have 100 million adherents worldwide, 70
million in China. These numbers are obviously inflated; it is not true that 1 in
every 58 people on the planet are adherents of Falun Dafa. A reasonable
worldwide number that some newspapers have used is 10 million, but this
is only a guess. The current crackdown on the movement by the Communist
government is likely to increase the movement's growth both within and outside
of China. Its status as a full-fledged "religion" is questionable, and it does
not claim to be one in the traditional sense. For most practitioners it is more
of a technique than a religion. However, the movement's literature states that
deriving full benefit from the techniques precludes membership in other
religions, and there are people who consider Falun Dafa their primary or only
religion. But exclusive followers of this sort are in the minority.
Furthermore, Falun Dafa is properly classified as a subset of Chinese
traditional religion and not as a distinct religion, so it would not be
classified as a "major world religion" even if it did have 100 million followers.
Although the movement is verifiably large and widespread, its adherents appear
to be almost uniformly ethnic Chinese. Their involvement with the movement is
not really conversion to a different or foreign religion, but rather involvement
in an evangelical/reform movement within their existing religious system.
Sociologically, the Falun Dafa movement has many parallels to the Pentecostal
movement and Billy Graham revivals within Christianity.
Taoism: Included as a subset of Chinese traditional religion
because of the impossibility of separating a large number of Taoists from
traditional Chinese religionists in general. See note under
Chinese traditional religion.
Confucianism: See Chinese traditional religion.
Roma: There are an estimated 9 to 12 million Roma (Gypsies; also "Rroma")
in the world, concentrated in Europe, but also in North America, Australia and
elsewhere. There is clearly a distinct set of Roma religious beliefs and
practices, which scholars frequently describe as Aryan/Indian/Hindu in origin
with an overlay of local (esp. European) religious culture (often Catholic). But
the Roma are primarily classified as an ethnic or cultural group. Many clearly
have a strong ethnic identity as Roma and a self-identified religious identity
as Catholic or Protestant. The Roma illustrate how arbitrary the dividing lines
between ethnicity, culture, and religion can be.
Animal Rights: Although the Animal Rights movement (along with ethical
vegetarianism, Veganism, PETA, etc.) is a large and rapidly growing
socio-cultural-religious group, its proponents do not generally call it their "religion."
Reliable statistics for the number of adherents for whom Animal Rights
constitutes primary cultural/religious/philosophical identity, versus those who
simply support certain positions of the movement, are unavailable. AR is
a religion, but for the majority of Animal Rights supporters, AR functions as a
movement and/or lifestyle choice, not their primary religion. (This is similar
to the current broad support for the "Free Tibet" movement, most of which comes
from non-Buddhists.)
Other movements and groups which are not listed on this page but which function
as the sociological equivalent of traditionally recognized religions are listed
here.
Please feel free to send comments, questions, adherent statistics, spelling corrections, etc. to webmaster@adherents.com.
Webpage created circa January 2000. Last modified 9 August 2007.
Copyright © 2007 by Adherents.com.
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