In 2022, around 31.6 percent of the global population were identify as Christian. Around 25.8 percent of the global population identify as Muslims, followed by 15.1 percent of global populations as Hindu.
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 2022, 99 percent of Hindus and Buddhists worldwide lived in Asia-Pacific. In comparison, 43 percent of Jews lived in North America, and 45.4 percent lived in the Middle East and North Africa. Christians were more evenly divided around the continents.
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 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 National Religion Dataset: The observation in this dataset is a state-five-year unit. This dataset provides information regarding the number of adherents by religions, as well as the percentage of the state's population practicing a given religion.
From 2022 to 2060, the worldwide population of Muslims is expected to increase by 45.7 percent. For the same period, the global population of Buddhists is expected to decrease by 12.2 percent.
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.
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.
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.
World religion data in this dataset is from the World Religion Database.The map shows the percentage of the majority religion by provinces/states and also included in the database is Christian percentage by provinces/states. Boundaries are based on Natural Earth, August, 2011 modified to match provinces in the World Religion Database.*Originally titled
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Singapore Population: Religion: Female: Islam data was reported at 233.800 Person th in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 231.478 Person th for 2010. Singapore Population: Religion: Female: Islam data is updated yearly, averaging 231.478 Person th from Jun 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 233.800 Person th in 2015 and a record low of 185.804 Person th in 2000. Singapore Population: Religion: Female: Islam 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 .
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Philippines Population: RA: Tribal Religions data was reported at 243,704.000 Person in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 207,246.000 Person for 2010. Philippines Population: RA: Tribal Religions data is updated yearly, averaging 207,246.000 Person from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 243,704.000 Person in 2015 and a record low of 164,080.000 Person in 2000. Philippines Population: RA: Tribal Religions data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Philippine Statistics Authority. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Philippines – Table PH.G003: Population: Religious: Affiliation.
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Singapore Population: Religion: Christianity: Catholic data was reported at 220.900 Person th in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 219.133 Person th for 2010. Singapore Population: Religion: Christianity: Catholic data is updated yearly, averaging 219.133 Person th from Jun 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 220.900 Person th in 2015 and a record low of 118.980 Person th in 2000. Singapore Population: Religion: Christianity: Catholic 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 .
Of the around 280 million migrants worldwide, nearly half were Christians. A further 30 percent were estimated to be Muslims, whereas 13 percent did not belong to any religion.
Worldwide, most migrants live in regions where the same religion as in their country of origin dominates. For instance, three-quarters of all migrants in the Middle East and North Africa are Muslims, where Islam is a dominant religion, and over 80 percent of migrants living in Latin America and the Caribbean are Christians. This is explained by the fact that many people migrate to nearby countries, where the same religion tends to be dominant.
This statistic illustrates the projected growth of major religious groups from 2015 to 2060. In 2060, it is projected that there will be about 2.9 billion Muslims worldwide, compared to 1.7 billion Muslims in 2015.
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India Census: Population: by Religion: Muslim: Urban data was reported at 68,740,419.000 Person in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 49,393,496.000 Person for 2001. India Census: Population: by Religion: Muslim: Urban data is updated yearly, averaging 59,066,957.500 Person from Mar 2001 (Median) to 2011, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 68,740,419.000 Person in 2011 and a record low of 49,393,496.000 Person in 2001. India Census: Population: by Religion: Muslim: Urban 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.
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Singapore Population: Religion: Islam data was reported at 459.800 Person th in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 457.435 Person th for 2010. Singapore Population: Religion: Islam data is updated yearly, averaging 457.435 Person th from Jun 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 459.800 Person th in 2015 and a record low of 371.660 Person th in 2000. Singapore Population: Religion: Islam 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 .
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Singapore Population: Religion: Male: Hinduism data was reported at 81.300 Person th in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 81.634 Person th for 2010. Singapore Population: Religion: Male: Hinduism data is updated yearly, averaging 81.300 Person th from Jun 2000 (Median) to 2015, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 81.634 Person th in 2010 and a record low of 50.783 Person th in 2000. Singapore Population: Religion: Male: Hinduism 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 .
This statistic shows the percentage of religious adults, by religion and education level in 2016. In 2016, 8 percent of Muslims had completed higher education while 36 percent had received no formal schooling.
In 2022, around 31.6 percent of the global population were identify as Christian. Around 25.8 percent of the global population identify as Muslims, followed by 15.1 percent of global populations as Hindu.