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 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.

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 ...

Dataset

This dataset was created by Nicholas

Released under CC0: Public Domain

Contents

The start 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 follows.Attitudes towards religious behaviours. Topics: Personal estimation of

happiness; assessment of responsibility of the state regarding job

creation and income levelling; stronger punishment and the death

penalty as measures to combat crime; attitude to pre-marital sexual

intercourse and affairs; attitude to homosexuality and abortion;

judgement on role distribution in marriage and attitude to working

women; honesty in paying taxes and attitude to honesty of citizens with

the state; trust in institutions such as the Federal Parliament, business,

industry, authorities, churches, judiciary and schools.

Attitude to non-religious politicians and office-holders; influence on

voters as well as government through church leaders; judgement on the

power of churches and religious organisations; doubt or firm belief in

God; perceived nearness to God; development of personal belief in God;

belief in a life after death; belief in the devil, heaven, hell and miracles;

conviction regarding the Bible; fatalism; the meaning of life and

Christian interpretation of life; contact with the dead; religious ties at a

turning point in life; religious affiliation of father, mother and

spouse/partner; frequency of church attendance of father and of

mother; personal direction of belief and frequency of church

attendance in adolescence; frequency of prayer and participation in

religious activities.

Self-classification of personal religiousness; attitude to school prayer;

personal conscience, social rules or God’s laws as basis for deciding

between right and wrong; attitudes to prohibition of religious criticism

in literature and films; superstition; belief in lucky charms, fortune

tellers, wonder doctors, signs of the zodiac and horoscopes; conversion

of faith after crucial experience; idea of God; judgement on world and

people as good or bad.

Living together with partner; type and temporal extent of vocational

employment; private or public employer; professional independence

and number of employees; superior function and span of control;

number of colleagues; union membership; unemployment; party

inclination and behaviour at the polls; self-classification on a left-right

continuum; religious affiliation; religiousness; self-classification of social

class affiliation; residential status; training and employment of

spouse/partner as well as parents; size of household; household

income. Also encoded were: region; rural or urban area; city size; ethnic

identification.

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 statistic shows the top 25 countries in the world with the largest number of Christian population in 2010. In 2010, the United States was leading the ranking with about 243 million Christians living in the country.

Ranking of topic prevalence by source: Public health, faith-based groups, New York Times.

Armenia State Budget: Expenditure: Rest, Culture and Religion data was reported at 40,495.900 AMD mn in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 43,269.200 AMD mn for 2023. Armenia State Budget: Expenditure: Rest, Culture and Religion data is updated yearly, averaging 17,151.350 AMD mn from Dec 1997 (Median) to 2024, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 43,858.900 AMD mn in 2022 and a record low of 3,194.000 AMD mn in 1997. Armenia State Budget: Expenditure: Rest, Culture and Religion data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Armenia – Table AM.F007: State Expenditure: by Functional Classification: Annual.

A colleague (Christa Strickler) announced on a mailing list (ACQNET) the existence of a new issue of TCB (Technical Services in Religion and Theology). It was touted as an open access journal, and I wondered whether or not there was an application programmer interface (API) for downloading the content. After a bit of rooting around, I discovered that TCB is published using a system called Open Journal Systems (OJS), and OJS rigorously supports a protocol called OAI-PMH. So, to answer my question: Yes, TCB does support an API. This data set outlines some of the things I learned through the application of distant reading against it.

Armenia State Budget: Expenditure: Year to Date: Rest, Culture and Religion data was reported at 3,999.700 AMD mn in Feb 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 929.500 AMD mn for Jan 2025. Armenia State Budget: Expenditure: Year to Date: Rest, Culture and Religion data is updated monthly, averaging 11,101.550 AMD mn from Jan 2008 (Median) to Feb 2025, with 206 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 43,858.900 AMD mn in Dec 2022 and a record low of 375.600 AMD mn in Jan 2018. Armenia State Budget: Expenditure: Year to Date: Rest, Culture and Religion data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Armenia – Table AM.F006: State Expenditure: by Functional Classification: ytd.

In 2020, Indonesia recorded the largest population of Muslims worldwide, with around 239 million. This was followed with around 226.88 million Muslims in Pakistan and 213 million Muslims in India.

Chile CG: Expenditure: Recreational Activities, Culture & Religion (RC) data was reported at 840,720.998 CLP mn in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 524,802.886 CLP mn for 2022. Chile CG: Expenditure: Recreational Activities, Culture & Religion (RC) data is updated yearly, averaging 79,540.156 CLP mn from Dec 1987 (Median) to 2023, with 37 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 840,720.998 CLP mn in 2023 and a record low of 4,190.000 CLP mn in 1987. Chile CG: Expenditure: Recreational Activities, Culture & Religion (RC) data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Chilean Budget Estimation Directory. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Chile – Table CL.F012: Central Government: Expenditure: by Functional Classification.

Material status and living conditions, education, work and employment, family and leisure, trust, attitudes and beliefs, future aspirations as well as politics and EU-accession of Serbia.

I. Face-to-face interview:

Topics: 1. Leisure time and lifestyle: main leisure time activities; internet access; number of hours a day the respondent spends watching TV (genres) and on the internet; purposes for internet use; fashionable and old-fashioned personal values; average money for personal needs.

1. Values and beliefs: rust in social groups from young people’s milieu; attitude towards different groups in the neighborhood; ever felt discriminated and factors for discrimination; ranking of the most important values; most important reason for voluntary activities; religious beliefs and practices: religious denomination; acceptance of religious beliefs (there is a God, God created the world, believe in the existence of heaven and hell, and in God as a source of moral prescriptions and duties); frequency of participation in religious practices.

2. Family transitions: housing situation; number of rooms in the household; form of ownership; reasons for living with the parents; relationship with the parents; persons with most influence on young people’s decisions; advantages of marriage; advantages of unmarried relationship; most appropriate age for creating a family; desired number of children; ranking of factors for the choice of a marriage partner; part of a group of friends; satisfaction with friends.

3. Migration intentions: intentions for internal migration and emigration; activities for emigration; expected personal situation in ten years.

4. Education: educational aspirations; most important factor for obtaining the desired education; everyday life at school / university: motivation for attending school / university; academic efforts and achievements; corruption in the educational system: grades and exams are being bought at the own school / university.

5. Employment: preference for private or public sector employment; most important factor for finding a suitable job and succeeding in employment today; employed in the profession the respondent was educated for; working hours per week; average monthly income.

6. Democracy and politics: frequency of political discussions with parents; interest in world politics, EU politics, politics in the Balkans, and Serbian politics; correspondence between political views of the respondent and his parents; party preference; electoral participation since becoming eligible to vote; satisfaction with democracy; opinion about the influence of one’s vote upon parliament and the government; trust in Serbian and EU institutions; importance and ranking of different political issues.

7. European integration: attitude towards Serbia’s EU membership; Serbia has benefited or lost from EU membership; areas where Serbia has benefited from EU accession.

8. Optimism and fears: assessment of personal and family life-prospects at present; expected future in ten years; vision of Serbia’s short-term future; disturbing / alarming problems for Serbian society; Serbia’s EU membership poses threats to different levels.

Demography: sex, age, year and month of birth; satisfaction (personal relationships, family life, occupation); household size, highest educational level of respondent and parents; marital status; number of children; the most appropriate age to get the first child; material status; family’s cultural capital: number of books in the household; financial situation of the household; housing situation; number of rooms; own room; employment situation; sources of income.

Additionally coded was: questionnaire-ID; date (month and year) and time of interview; duration of interview; settlement.

II: Self-administered questionnaire:

Topics: alcohol and marijuana use; acceptance of marijuana use and alcohol use; satisfaction with own appearance; sexual experience; use of form of birth control; opinion on sexual abstinence; tolerance towards non-traditional forms of sexuality; tolerance towards abortion; involvement in some form of physical (violent) conflict in the last 12 months.

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.

Youth’s socio-economic situation. Free time and lifestyle. School and profession. Concerns and aspirations. Values. Religiosity. Democracy and politics, civic and political participation. Governance and development.

Topics: 1. Free time and lifestyle: development of the country in the right or in the wrong direction; hours watched TV every day; internet access; hours per day for internet usage overall; main purposes for internet usage; amount of money per month for selected activities; personal values (e.g. independence, career, engagement in politics, own appearance); smoker status; frequency of alcohol consumption; sexual relations; usage of contraceptives; opinion on sexual abstinence (abstaining from sex before marriage); acceptance of homosexuals and lesbians; opinion on abortion.

1. Religion: level of trust in family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, people of other religions or with different political beliefs, religious leaders and members of other ethnic groups in Romania); experience of discrimination due to selected reasons; values the respondent appreciates primarily, secondarily and thirdly; personal engagement in voluntary activities and kind of these voluntary activities; denomination; belief in: the existence of God, heaven and hell, God created the world, God is the source of moral rules and obligations; frequency of religious practice.

2. Family and friends: respondent lives alone or with both parents, only with mother, only with father, with spouse / partner or with friends / relatives; preference for living alone or with parents; relationship to parents; family member with the most influence on decision the respondent takes on important issues; decision on important issues together with parents or alone or parents decide for everything; expected personal family situation (e.g. married with own family); adequate age for marriage for women and men; desired number of children; importance of factors in choosing own husband / wife; part of a group of friends; satisfaction with own social network; situations of violent conflicts in the past year (e.g. with other young people in the neighborhood).

3. Concerns and aspirations: willingness to immigrate abroad; most desired country to immigrate; main reason to emigrate from Romania; expected personal situation in 10 years.

4. School and profession: enrollment in any educational institutions or continuing studies (school, high school, vocational school, University, Master/PhD); self-rated motivation towards school; assessment of a typical day at school, high school or university; average grade during the last academic year; existence of a phenomenon of ´purchasing/buying´ school grades and exams; number of hours for studies; kind of private courses during the last academic year; foreign language learned in private lessons; find a job immediately after graduating school, high school or university; satisfied with the quality of the Romanian education system; part-time or full time employment; working hours per week; working in profession obtained; preferred sector of employment; ranking of important factors to find a job in Romania (connections / friends, professional abilities and experience, education level, political connections, luck or other factor); ranking of important factors to accept a certain job (income, employment certainty, possibility to work with people you like, satisfaction with work, other); intention to start own business in the next two years; preferred field for own business; main reason to start own business.

5. Democracy and politics: frequency of political discussion with family, friends and colleagues; similarity of own political beliefs with those of the parents; frequency of participation in elections; political interest; participation in protest forms: most important topic for protest; willingness to take part in protests; influence of the own vote on the way institutions on central and local level are managed; main sources of political information; left-right self-placement; feeling of being represented by young politicians; trust in selected institutions, organizations, countries and persons (Political parties, Parliament, Government, mayor, Prosecutor General of Romania, Police, Church, Judges, Romanian mass media, trade unions, NGOs, USA, Army, EU, NATO, Russian Federation); satisfaction with democracy in Romania.

6. Governance and development: seriousness of selected problems in Romanian society (...

Iceland Number of Registered Enterprises: Activities of Religious Organisations data was reported at 503.000 Unit in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 504.000 Unit for 2016. Iceland Number of Registered Enterprises: Activities of Religious Organisations data is updated yearly, averaging 504.000 Unit from Dec 2008 (Median) to 2017, with 10 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 514.000 Unit in 2008 and a record low of 502.000 Unit in 2012. Iceland Number of Registered Enterprises: Activities of Religious Organisations data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics Iceland . The data is categorized under Global Database’s Iceland – Table IS.O013: Number of Registered Enterprises: Statistical Classification of Economic Activities Revision 2.

More than *** million people of the Hindu faith gather every 12 years in India for the Maha Kumbh Mela festival. In contrast, the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia gathered about ***** million Muslims in 2018.

Descriptive statistics for three corpora.