In 2020, around 28.8 percent of the global population were identified as Christian. Around 25.6 percent of the global population identify as Muslims, followed by 14.9 percent of global populations as Hindu. The number of Muslims increased by 347 million, when compared to 2010 data, more than all other religions combined.

Global Religious Demographics

Global religious demographics over time

By Throwback Thursday [source]

About this dataset

The dataset contains information on a wide range of religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Baha'i Faith, Taoism, Confucianism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Syncretic Religions (religious practices that blend elements from multiple faiths), Animism (belief in spiritual beings in nature), Non-Religious individuals or those without any religious affiliation.

For each religion and region/country combination recorded in the dataset we have the following information:

• Total population: The total population of the region or country.
• Religious affiliation percentages: The percentages of the population that identify with specific religious affiliations.
• Subgroup populations/percentages: The populations or percentages within specific denominations or sects of each religion.

The dataset also provides additional variables like Year and State Name (for regional data) for further analysis.

How to use the dataset

• Understanding the Columns

  The dataset contains several columns with different categories of information. Here's a brief explanation of some important columns:

  • Year: The year in which the data was recorded.
  • Total Population: The total population of a country or region.
  • State Name (StateNme): The name of the state or region.

  Each religion has specific columns associated with it, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Shintoism etc., representing its percentage and population for each category/denomination within that religion.

• Selecting Specific Data

  If you are interested in exploring data related to a particular religion or geographic location:

  • To filter data by Religion: Identify relevant columns associated with that religion such as 'Christianity', 'Buddhism', 'Islam', etc., and extract their respective percentage and population values for analysis.

    Example: If you want to analyze Christianity specifically, extract columns related to Christianity like 'Christianity (Percent)', 'Christianity (Population)', etc.

    Note: There might be multiple columns related to a specific religion indicating different categories or denominations within that religion.

  • To filter data by Geographic Location: Utilize the 'State Name' column ('StateNme') to segregate data corresponding to different states/regions.

    Example: If you want to analyze religious demographics for a particular state/region like California or India:

    i) Filter out rows where State Name is equal to California or India.

    ii) Extract relevant columns associated with your selected religion as mentioned above.

• Finding Trends and Insights

  Once you have selected the specific data you are interested in, examine patterns and trends over time or across different regions.

  • Plotting data using visualizations: Use graphical tools such as line charts, bar charts, or pie charts to visualize how religious demographics have changed over the years or vary across different regions.

  • Analyzing population proportions: By comparing the percentage values of different religions for a given region or over time, you can gather insights into changes in religious diversity.

• Comparing Religions

  If you wish to compare multiple religions:

Research Ideas

• Comparing religious affiliations across different countries or regions: With data on various religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, etc., researchers can compare the religious affiliations of different countries or regions. This can help in understanding the cultural and religious diversity within different parts of the world.
• Exploring the growth or decline of specific religions: By examining population numbers for specific religions such as Jainism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, etc., this dataset can be used to investigate the growth or decline of these religious groups over time. Researchers can analyze factors contributing to their popularity or decline in particular regions or countries

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

See the dataset description for more information.

Columns

File: ThrowbackDataThursday 201912 - Religion.csv | Column name...

Religious Populations Worldwide

Religious Populations Worldwide by Year and Category

By Throwback Thursday [source]

About this dataset

The dataset includes data on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Baha'i Faith, Taoism, Confucianism, Jainism and various other syncretic and animist religions. For each religion or denomination category, it provides both the total population count and the percentage representation in relation to the overall population.

Additionally, - Columns labeled with Population provide numeric values representing the total number of individuals belonging to a particular religion or denomination. - Columns labeled with Percent represent numerical values indicating the percentage of individuals belonging to a specific religion or denomination within a given population. - Columns that begin with ** indicate primary categories (e.g., Christianity), while columns that do not have this prefix refer to subcategories (e.g., Christianity - Roman Catholics).

In addition to providing precise data about specific religions or denominations globally throughout multiple years,this dataset also records information about geographical locations by including state or country names under StateNme.

This comprehensive dataset is valuable for researchers seeking information on global religious trends and can be used for analysis in fields such as sociology, anthropology studies cultural studies among others

How to use the dataset

Introduction:

• Understanding the Columns:

• Year: Represents the year in which the data was recorded.

• StateNme: Represents the name of the state or country for which data is recorded.

• Population: Represents the total population of individuals.

• Total Religious: Represents the total percentage and population of individuals who identify as religious, regardless of specific religion.

• Non Religious: Represents the percentage and population of individuals who identify as non-religious or atheists.

• Identifying Specific Religions: The dataset includes columns for different religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Each religion is further categorized into specific denominations or types within that religion (e.g., Roman Catholics within Christianity). You can find relevant information about these religions by focusing on specific columns related to each one.

• Analyzing Percentages vs. Population: Some columns provide percentages while others provide actual population numbers for each category. Depending on your analysis requirement, you can choose either column type for your calculations and comparisons.

• Accessing Historical Data: The dataset includes records from multiple years allowing you to analyze trends in religious populations over time. You can filter data based on specific years using Excel filters or programming languages like Python.

• Filtering Data by State/Country: If you are interested in understanding religious populations in a particular state or country, use filters to focus on that region's data only.

Example - Extracting Information:

Let's say you want to analyze Hinduism's growth globally from 2000 onwards:

• Identify Relevant Columns:
• Year: to filter data from 2000 onwards.

• Hindu - Total (Percent): to analyze the percentage of individuals identifying as Hindus globally.

• Filter Data:

• Set a filter on the Year column and select values greater than or equal to 2000.

• Look for rows where Hindu - Total (Percent) has values.

• Analyze Results: You can now visualize and calculate the growth of Hinduism worldwide after filtering out irrelevant data. Use statistical methods or graphical representations like line charts to understand trends over time.

Conclusion: This guide has provided you with an overview of how to use the Rel

Research Ideas

• Comparing religious populations across different countries: With data available for different states and countries, this dataset allows for comparisons of religious populations across regions. Researchers can analyze how different religions are distributed geographically and compare their percentages or total populations across various locations.
• Studying the impact of historical events on religious demographics: Since the dataset includes records categorized by year, it can be used to study how historical events such as wars, migration, or political changes have influenced religious demographics over time. By comparing population numbers before and after specific events, resea...

From 2022 to 2060, the worldwide population of Muslims is expected to increase by **** percent. For the same period, the global population of Buddhists is expected to decrease by **** percent.

In 2023, **** percent of Americans were unaffiliated with any religion. A further **** percent of Americans were White evangelical Protestants, and an additional **** percent were White mainline Protestants. Religious trends in the United States Although the United States is still home to the largest number of Christians worldwide, the nation has started to reflect a more diverse religious landscape in recent years. Americans now report a wide range of religious beliefs and backgrounds, in addition to an increasing number of people who are choosing to identify with no religion at all. Studies suggest that many Americans have left their previous religion to instead identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, with many reasoning that they stopped believing in the religion's teachings, that they didn't approve of negative teachings or treatment of LGBTQ+ people, or that their family was never that religious growing up. Christian controversies Over the last few years, controversies linked to Christian denominations have plagued the nation, including reports of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Christian churches have also been accused of supporting discriminatory actions against LGBTQ+ people and people belonging to other religious groups. In addition, there have been increasing concerns about Christian nationalism, the political ideology that asserts that America was founded to be a Christian nation. Although the majority of Americans still think that declaring the United States a Christian nation would go against the U.S. Constitution, studies found that most Republicans would be in favor of this change.

Christianity is the major religion in numerous African countries. As of 2024, around 96 percent of the population of Zambia was Christian, representing the highest percentage on the continent. Seychelles and Rwanda followed with roughly 95 percent and 94 percent of the population being Christian, respectively. While these countries present the highest percentages, Christianity was also prevalent in many other African nations. For instance, in South Africa, Christianity was the religion of nearly 85 percent of the people, while the share corresponded to 71 percent in Ghana. Religious variations across Africa Christianity and Islam are the most practiced religions in Africa. Christian adherents are prevalent below the Sahara, while North Africa is predominantly Muslim. In 2020, Christians accounted for around 60 percent of the Sub-Saharan African population, followed by Muslims with a share of roughly 30 percent. In absolute terms, there were approximately 650 million Christians in the region, a number forecast to increase to over one billion by 2050. In contrast, Islam is most prevalent in North Africa, being the religion of over 90 percent of the population in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. Christianity in the world As opposed to other religions, Christianity is widely spread across continents worldwide. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe each account for around 25 percent of the global Christian population. By comparison, Asia-Pacific and North America make up 13 percent and 12 percent of Christians worldwide, respectively. In several regions, Christians also suffer persecution on religious grounds. Somalia and Libya presented the most critical situation in Africa in 2021, reporting the strongest suppression of Christians worldwide just after North Korea and Afghanistan.

This dataset describes the world’s religious makeup in 2020 and 2010. We focus on seven categories: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, people who belong to other religions, and those who are religiously unaffiliated. This analysis is based on more than 2,700 sources of data, including national censuses, large-scale demographic surveys, general population surveys and population registers. For more information about this data, see the associated Pew Research Center report "How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020."

As of 2010, Christianity was the religion with the most followers worldwide, followed by Islam (Muslims) and Hinduism. In the forty years between 2010 and 2050, it is projected that the landscape of world religions will undergo some noticeable changes, with the number of Muslims almost catching up to Christians. The changes in population sizes of each religious group is largely dependent on demographic development, for example, the rise in the world's Christian population will largely be driven by population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, while Muslim populations will rise across various regions of Africa and South Asia. As India's population is set to grow while China's goes into decline, this will be reflected in the fact that Hindus will outnumber the unaffiliated by 2050. In fact, India may be home to both the largest Hindu and Muslim populations in the world by the middle of this century.

The average for 2013 based on 14 countries was 81.4 percent. The highest value was in Costa Rica: 100 percent and the lowest value was in Trinidad and Tobago: 37.5 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2013. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Uttarakhand data was reported at 37,781.000 Person in 03-01-2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 27,116.000 Person for 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Uttarakhand data is updated decadal, averaging 32,448.500 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 03-01-2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 37,781.000 Person in 03-01-2011 and a record low of 27,116.000 Person in 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Uttarakhand data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Demographic – Table IN.GAE004: Census: Population: by Religion: Christian.

The average for 2013 based on 47 countries was 42.8 percent. The highest value was in Cape Verde: 94.4 percent and the lowest value was in Algeria: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2013. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

India Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Female data was reported at 14,068,557.000 Person in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 12,095,353.000 Person for 2001. India Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 13,081,955.000 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14,068,557.000 Person in 2011 and a record low of 12,095,353.000 Person in 2001. India Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Census of India. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Demographic – Table IN.GAE001: Census: Population: by Religion.

Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Haryana data was reported at 50,353.000 Person in 03-01-2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 27,185.000 Person for 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Haryana data is updated decadal, averaging 38,769.000 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 03-01-2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 50,353.000 Person in 03-01-2011 and a record low of 27,185.000 Person in 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Haryana data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Demographic – Table IN.GAE004: Census: Population: by Religion: Christian.

India Census: Population: by Religion: Christian data was reported at 27,819,588.000 Person in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 24,080,016.000 Person for 2001. India Census: Population: by Religion: Christian data is updated yearly, averaging 25,949,802.000 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 27,819,588.000 Person in 2011 and a record low of 24,080,016.000 Person in 2001. India Census: Population: by Religion: Christian data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Census of India. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Demographic – Table IN.GAE004: Census: Population: by Religion: Christian.

Among the people surveyed in 26 countries around the world, a slight majority of the baby boomer generation were Christians. By comparison, only 42 percent of Generation Z stated that they were Christians. Millennials was the generation with the highest share of people stating that they had a religious belief other than Islam and Christianity.

In 2023, 27.5 percent of Americans were unaffiliated with any religion. A further 13.4 percent of Americans were White evangelical Protestants, and an additional 13.3 percent were White mainline Protestants. Religious trends in the United States Although the United States is still home to the largest number of Christians worldwide, the nation has started to reflect a more diverse religious landscape in recent years. Americans now report a wide range of religious beliefs and backgrounds, in addition to an increasing number of people who are choosing to identify with no religion at all. Studies suggest that many Americans have left their previous religion to instead identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, with many reasoning that they stopped believing in the religion's teachings, that they didn't approve of negative teachings or treatment of LGBTQ+ people, or that their family was never that religious growing up. Christian controversies Over the last few years, controversies linked to Christian denominations have plagued the nation, including reports of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Christian churches have also been accused of supporting discriminatory actions against LGBTQ+ people and people belonging to other religious groups. In addition, there have been increasing concerns about Christian nationalism, the political ideology that asserts that America was founded to be a Christian nation. Although the majority of Americans still think that declaring the United States a Christian nation would go against the U.S. Constitution, studies found that most Republicans would be in favor of this change.

The average for 2013 based on 36 countries was 71.3 percent. The highest value was in Romania: 98.8 percent and the lowest value was in Belgium: 0.1 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2013. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Sikkim data was reported at 60,522.000 Person in 03-01-2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 36,115.000 Person for 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Sikkim data is updated decadal, averaging 48,318.500 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 03-01-2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 60,522.000 Person in 03-01-2011 and a record low of 36,115.000 Person in 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Sikkim data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Demographic – Table IN.GAE004: Census: Population: by Religion: Christian.

Christianity was the largest religion in a high number of the countries included in the survey. Of the countries, Peru, South Africa, and Poland had the highest share of Christians at around 75 percent. Moreover, around 90 percent in India and Thailand stated that they believed in another religion, with Hinduism and Buddhism being the major religion in the two countries respectively. Sweden and South Korea were the only two countries where 50 percent or more of the respondents stated that they did not have any religious beliefs.