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.

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.

The World Religion Project (WRP) aims to provide detailed information about religious adherence worldwide since 1945. It contains data about the number of adherents by religion in each of the states in the international system. These numbers are given for every half-decade period (1945, 1950, etc., through 2010). Percentages of the states' populations that practice a given religion are also provided. (Note: These percentages are expressed as decimals, ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates that 0 percent of the population practices a given religion and 1 indicates that 100 percent of the population practices that religion.) Some of the religions (as detailed below) are divided into religious families. To the extent data are available, the breakdown of adherents within a given religion into religious families is also provided.

The project was developed in three stages. The first stage consisted of the formation of a religion tree. A religion tree is a systematic classification of major religions and of religious families within those major religions. To develop the religion tree we prepared a comprehensive literature review, the aim of which was (i) to define a religion, (ii) to find tangible indicators of a given religion of religious families within a major religion, and (iii) to identify existing efforts at classifying world religions. (Please see the original survey instrument to view the structure of the religion tree.) The second stage consisted of the identification of major data sources of religious adherence and the collection of data from these sources according to the religion tree classification. This created a dataset that included multiple records for some states for a given point in time. It also contained multiple missing data for specific states, specific time periods and specific religions. The third stage consisted of cleaning the data, reconciling discrepancies of information from different sources and imputing data for the missing cases.

The Global Religion Dataset: This dataset uses a religion-by-five-year unit. It aggregates the number of adherents of a given religion and religious group globally by five-year periods.

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.

In Brazil, 70 percent of the respondents believed in God as described in the holy scriptures, and another 19 percent believed in a higher power or spirit. In South Africa, the figures were 73 and 16 percent respectively. By contrast, less than one in five in Japan and only one in three in South Korea believed in God or some form of spirit or higher power.

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."

Religious beliefs and moral attitudes.

Thopics: perceived change in violence on the streets, bribery, adultery and tax evasion during the last 10 years; justifyability of tax evasion (scale); justifyability of death penality; attitude towards: homosexual adoption, right to commit suicide, men more right for job than women; attitudes towards abortion in different circumstances (scale);
individual or public responsability for pensions; cuts in unemployment benefits; smoking ni public buildings; goals in education of children: indepdendence, obedience, creativity; attitudes towards income differeces; attitudes towards homeless people in neighbourhood; acceptance of nepotism (Kohlberg); Criteria for selecting patients for important surgery in hospitals; attitudes towards euthanasia; rules about good and bad; source of morality (scale); control over life; solving problems: individual vs. society; social orientation; volunteering: religious organizations, non-religious organizations; geographical mobility; residence of best friend; nationality of respondent; nationality of mother; nationality of father; attitudes towards migrants (ethnocentrism); political interest; party preference; least preferred party; reception of political news; concept of god; beliefs about life after death; salvation; conditions of salvation; theodizee (scale); respondent´s religiosity (self-assessment); beliefs influence daily life; beliefs influence important decisions; spiritual life; church attendance; frequency of praying; religious services: birth, marriage, death; conceptions of jesus; conceptions of the bible; dramatic change around millennium; denominational membership; closeness to church; women as priests; conversion experience; church attendance at age 12; transcendental experiences; possession of holy object; power of holy obejct; possession of talisman or lucky charm; power of talisman or lucky charm; consult horoscope; take horoscope into account in daily life; share of friends with different religion; perceived percentage of religious people in country; role of religion in world; attitudes towards: girls cover heads, take soft drugs, prevent blood transfusion, commit suicide; attitudes towards religious groups (enrichement, cause of conflict, other religious teachings, Jehovas witness, scientologist); truth in religion; religious symbols in schools; financial support: religious schools, religions; attitudes towards: oath with reference to God; consult religions in making laws, nurse may refuse legal abortion; attitutes towards science; desired influence of churches on politics; perceived influence of churches on politics;

Demographics: gender; age (year of birth); highest level of education; emloyment status; status of unpaid work; secondary job; marital status; steady life partner; partner´s highest level of education; partner´s religion; partner´s church attendance; number of children; household (number of children +18; 13-17; 5-12; less than 4); net household income; acceptance of cut in income for solidarity with poorest countries; community size; national ranking of community size; history of church membership;

Additionally coded: length of interview; year of interview.

Optional questions (not asked in all countries): importance of freedom; importance of equality; God concerned with every individual; God is valuable in humankind; life has meaning because of a God; sorrows have meaning if beliefs in a God; sorrows receive meaning from yourself; death is natural resting point; death is passage to another life; life has meaning if yourself give meaning; Virgin Mary was taken to heaven; believe in saints; father´s religion at age 12; father attend religious services at age 12; mothers´s religion at age 12; mother attend religious services at age 12; education in religious schools; profession (ISCO); partner´s profession (ISCO), community size (not grouped); pope hinders unity of Christians; religious services: sober; religious services: music and ceremonial clothes; pope should adapt his message; laity involvement; meaning of Christmas; month of interview; father´s highest level of education; mother´s level of education; number of household members

Additional questions in the BELGIAN questionnaire (only substantial questions. No country specific versions of questions from the masterquestionnaire): meaning of marriage in church; homosexuals may marry; light candle when enter church; water from Lourdes at home; pilgrimage; ...

Content

In this dataset, you will find information about the billions of religious believers and their population's growth over a 65 year time period from 1945 to 2010.

Acknowledgements

This dataset comes from https://data.world/cow/world-religion-data.

World Religions Across Regions

Analyzing Adherence Across Regions, States and the Global System

By Correlates of War Project [source]

About this dataset

The World Religion Project (WRP) is an ambitious endeavor to conduct a comprehensive analysis of religious adherence throughout the world from 1945 to 2010. This cutting-edge project offers unparalleled insight into the religious behavior of people in different countries, regions, and continents during this time period. Its datasets provide important information about the numbers and percentages of adherents across a multitude of different religions, religion families, and non-religious affiliations.

The WRP consists of three distinct datasets: the national religion dataset, regional religion dataset, and global religion dataset. Each is focused on understanding individually specific realms for varied analysis approaches - from individual states to global systems. The national dataset provides data on number of adherents by state as well as percentage population practicing a given faith group in five-year increments; focusing attention to how this number evolves from nation to nation over time. Similarly, regional data is provided at five year intervals highlighting individual region designations with one modification – Pacific Ocean states have been reclassified into their own Oceania category according to Country Code Number 900 or above). Finally at a global level – all states are aggregated in order that we may understand a snapshot view at any five-year interval between 1945‐2010 regarding relationships between religions or religio‐families within one location or transnationally.

This project was developed in three stages: firstly forming a religions tree (a systematic classification), secondly collecting data such as this provided by WRP according to that classification structure – lastly cleaning the data so discrepancies may be reconciled and imported where needed with gaps selected when unknown values were encountered during collection process . We would encourage anyone wishing details undergoing more detailed reading/analysis relating various use applications for these rich datasets - please contact Zeev Maoz (University California Davis) & Errol A Henderson _(Pennsylvania State University)

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How to use the dataset

The World Religions Project (WRP) dataset offers a comprehensive look at religious adherence around the world within a single dataset. With this dataset, you can track global religious trends over a period of 65 years and explore how they’ve changed during that time. By exploring the WRP data set, you’ll gain insight into cross-regional and cross-time patterns in religious affiliation around the world.

Research Ideas

• Analyzing historical patterns of religious growth and decline across different regions
• Creating visualizations to compare religious adherence in various states, countries, or globally
• Studying the impact of governmental policies on religious participation over time

Acknowledgements

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

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - Give appropriate credit - Provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. - ShareAlike - You must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. - Keep intact - all notices that refer to this license, including copyright notices.

Columns

File: WRP regional data.csv | Column name | Description | |:-----------------|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Year | Reference year for data collection. (Integer) | | Region | World region according to Correlates Of War (COW) Regional Systemizations with one modification (Oceania category for COW country code ...

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.

Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Lakshadweep: Male data was reported at 286.000 Person in 03-01-2011. This records a decrease from the previous number of 422.000 Person for 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Lakshadweep: Male data is updated decadal, averaging 354.000 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 03-01-2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 422.000 Person in 03-01-2001 and a record low of 286.000 Person in 03-01-2011. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Lakshadweep: Male 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 eighth of 20 years of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) surveys within New Zealand by Professor Philip Gendall, Department of Marketing, Massey University.A verbose rundown on topics covered follows.Attitudes towards religious practices. Assessment of personal happiness; assessment of the responsibility of the government regarding creation of jobs and equalization of incomes; attitude to pre-marital as well as extra-marital sexual intercourse; attitude to homosexuality and abortion; judgement on distribution of roles in marriage and attitude to working women; attitude to living together with a partner before marriage and also without intent to marry; tax honesty and attitude to honesty of citizens towards the government; trust in other people as well as institutions such as parliament, businesses, industry, churches, judiciary and schools.Attitude to influence of church leaders on voters and governments; attitude to benefit of modern science; greater trust in science than in religion; more conflicts instead of peace from religions; intolerance of very religious people; too much influence of religion in one’s country; frequency of personal honorary activities in the last year in political, charitable, religious or other organisations; judgement on the power of churches and religious organisations; doubt or firm belief in God; perceived nearness to God; belief in a life after death, heaven, hell and miracles.Attitude to the Bible; God is concerned with every human; fatalism; the meaning of life and Christian interpretation of life; religious tie at a turning point in life; religious affiliation of father, mother and spouse/partner; frequency of church attendance of father and mother; personal direction of belief and frequency of church attendance when young; frequency of prayer and participation in religious activities; self-classification of personal religiousness; truth in one or in all religions; priority for loyalty to a friend before truth; anticipation of false testimony for the benefit of a friend; belief in lucky charms, fortune tellers, miracle healers and horoscopes; conversion of faith after crucial experience; concept of God; judgement on the world and people as good or bad; social rules or God’s laws as basis for deciding between right and wrong.Demography: sex; age, marital status; living together with a partner; school education; type and time extent of occupation activity; occupation (ISCO-Code); private or public employer; occupational self-employment and number of employees; supervisor function and span of control; time worked each week; income; household size; composition of household; number of co-workers; union membership; party inclination and election behaviour; self-classification on a left-right continuum; religious affiliation; frequency of church attendance; self-classification of social class.Also encoded were: region; rural or urban area; city size; ethnic identification.

Population: Religion: Female: Taoism data was reported at 165.600 Person th in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 172.222 Person th for 2010. Population: Religion: Female: Taoism data is updated yearly, averaging 165.600 Person th from Jun 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 172.222 Person th in 2010 and a record low of 105.267 Person th in 2000. Population: Religion: Female: Taoism data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Department of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Singapore – Table SG.G002: Population by Religion .

The 2000 constitution of Cote d’Ivoire provides for religious freedom for all citizens. Approximately 40 percent of the population is Christian, another 40 percent is Muslim, and an estimated 25 percent of the population practice indigenous beliefs. Traditionally, the north has been associated with Islam and the south with Christianity. Throughout rural areas and central Cote d’Ivoire you will find people practicing indigenous beliefs. Many nominal Christian and Muslim practitioners practice a hybrid of Christian and indigenous or Muslim and indigenous beliefs. Nearly all Christians and Muslims belong to ethnic groups that believe in animism, fetishism, and witchcraft. Christian groups include Roman Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists, Assemblies of God, and Southern Baptists. The Evangelical Protestant Church of Cote d’Ivoire has over 1500 organized churches in its membership. The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro is a Roman Catholic basilica built in the late 1980s by then-President Felix Houphouet-Boigny. It is considered the largest church in the world. The USD 300 million price tag contributed to a significant portion to the total national debt of Cote d’Ivoire. Historically, Christian religions have been slightly favored by the government with the Catholic Church being the favorite. While Christian schools received subsidies from the Ministry of Education for decades, Muslim schools were only considered official schools and given similar subsidies beginning in 1994. Accusations of discrimination against Islamic and traditional religious communities concerned employment, national identity card renewals, and the aforementioned religious school subsidies. This resulted in government resentment from both indigenous and Muslim populations. A 1999 coup led political leaders to stir up religious divisions between the north and south. Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim northerner was banned from the 2000 election. This led to a 2002 troop mutiny and rebellion by discontent northern Muslims. Religious tensions escalated in 2010 with the presidential election results. Alassane Ouattara was elected president and incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo rejected the results and refused to step down. Ouattara is a northern Muslim, Gbagbo a southern Christian. The ensuing violence, destruction of property, and massive displacement of people divided Cote d’Ivoire into two regions, north and south. The underlying ethnic, religious, and national fragmentation of Cote d’Ivoire contributed greatly to this division. Only minor reports of discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice have occurred in 2012. ISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero name NAME - Name of religious institution TYPE - Type of religious instituion CITY - City location of religious institution SPA_ACC - Spatial accuracy of site location 1- high, 2 – medium, 3 - low SOURCE_DT - Primary source creation date SOURCE - Primary source SOURCE2_DT - Secondary source creation date SOURCE2 - Secondary source

"Between October 2011 and November 2012, Pew Research Center, with generous funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation, conducted a public opinion survey involving more than 30,000 face-to-face interviews in 26 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The survey asked people to describe their religious beliefs and practices, and sought to gauge respondents; knowledge of and attitudes toward other faiths. It aimed to assess levels of political and economic satisfaction, concerns about crime, corruption and extremism, positions on issues such as abortion and polygamy, and views of democracy, religious law and the place of women in society.

"Although the surveys were nationally representative in most countries, the primary goal of the survey was to gauge and compare beliefs and attitudes of Muslims. The findings for Muslim respondents are summarized in the Religion & Public Life Project's reports The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity and The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society, which are available at www.pewresearch.org. [...] This dataset only contains data for Muslim respondents in the countries surveyed. Please note that this codebook is meant as a guide to the dataset, and is not the survey questionnaire." (2012 Pew Religion Worlds Muslims Codebook)

Global Religious Organizations market size is expected to reach $468.32 billion by 2029 at 4.4%, segmented as by type, public organization, private organization, individuals

This study, designed and carried out by the "http://www.asarb.org/" Target="_blank">Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on 372 religious bodies by county in the United States. Of these, the ASARB was able to gather data on congregations and adherents for 217 religious bodies and on congregations only for 155. Participating bodies included 354 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao, Zoroastrian, American Ethical Union, and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Baha'i, three Buddhist groupings, two Hindu groupings, four Jewish groupings, and Muslims. The 372 groups reported a total of 356,642 congregations with 161,224,088 adherents, comprising 48.6 percent of the total U.S. population of 331,449,281. Membership totals were estimated for some religious groups.

In January 2024, the ARDA added 21 religious tradition (RELTRAD) variables to this dataset. These variables start at variable #12 (TOTCNG_2020). Categories were assigned based on pages 88-94 in the original "https://www.usreligioncensus.org/index.php/node/1638" Target="_blank">2020 U.S. Religion Census Report.

Visit the "https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data sources.

Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Maharashtra: Male data was reported at 531,916.000 Person in 03-01-2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 530,975.000 Person for 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Maharashtra: Male data is updated decadal, averaging 531,445.500 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 03-01-2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 531,916.000 Person in 03-01-2011 and a record low of 530,975.000 Person in 03-01-2001. Census: Population: by Religion: Christian: Maharashtra: Male 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 RCS-Dem dataset reports estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It covers 220 independent states, 26 selected substate entities, and 41 geographically separated dependencies, for every year from 2015 back to 1900 and often 1800 (more than 42,000 state-years). It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivisions within Christianity and Islam, along with several complex categories such as "Western Christianity." RCS is designed for easy merger with datasets of the Correlates of War and Polity projects, datasets by the United Nations, the Religion And State datasets by Jonathan Fox, and the ARDA national profiles.

Finland: Non religious people as percent of the population: The latest value from 2013 is 15.6 percent, an increase from 15.3 percent in 2012. In comparison, the world average is 21.6 percent, based on data from 20 countries. Historically, the average for Finland from 1960 to 2013 is 10.5 percent. The minimum value, 6.6 percent, was reached in 1960 while the maximum of 15.6 percent was recorded in 2013.