In 2021, more than ** percent of the Thai population were Buddhists. This was followed by *** percent of Thais who were Muslim, and *** percent declared to be Christians. While Buddhism is prevalent all over the country, the Muslim community is primarily found in the southern provinces.

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.

Thailand: Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from 2013 is 0.6 percent, unchanged from 0.6 percent in 2012. In comparison, the world average is 51.1 percent, based on data from 145 countries. Historically, the average for Thailand from 1960 to 2013 is 0.6 percent. The minimum value, 0.5 percent, was reached in 1960 while the maximum of 0.6 percent was recorded in 1967.

Religious adherence varies widely between countries and regions across the globe. While in some countries, such as Bangladesh (majority-Muslim), Thailand (majority-Buddhist), and Nigeria (over 50 percent Muslim and 45 percent Christian), almost all people indicate that religion is important in their daily lives, in others such as Japan, Sweden, and Estonia, over three quarters of people do not believe that religion is important to them. Among countries with higher levels of religious adherence, there are some interesting cases. Predominantly Islamic countries, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia, tend to show high levels of religious adherence. Italy, the historical center of the Catholic Church, records much higher levels of religiosity than other Western European countries, such as France, Germany, or the UK. The United States has almost double the number of people saying they believe religion is important in their daily life than not important. While religious adherence has declined over the past half century in the U.S., waves of immigration from predominantly Catholic countries, as well as the cultural impact of Evangelical Protestantism in some areas has meant that it is still one of the most religious Western countries. Israel, in spite of being an officially Jewish state, records roughly half of respondents being religious. Another notable trend is the tendency of some post-communist countries to show lower levels of religiosity, likely a result of the policy of state atheism under communism - Russia, Belarus, and Estonia all come towards the least religious end of the list for this reason, although Poland, or former-Soviet states in the Caucuses and Central Asia show much higher levels of religious adherence.

Pew Research Center surveyed 13,122 adults across six countries in Asia about religious identity, beliefs, and practices, using nationally representative methods. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. They were conducted on mobile phones in Malaysia and Singapore. Local interviewers administered the survey from June to September 2022, in eight languages.

This survey is part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, a broader effort by Pew Research Center to study religious change and its impact on societies around the world. The Center previously has conducted religion-focused surveys across sub-Saharan Africa; the Middle East-North Africa region and many countries with large Muslim populations; Latin America; Israel; Central and Eastern Europe; Western Europe; India; and the United States.

This survey includes three countries in which Buddhists make up a majority of the population (Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand); two countries with Muslim majorities (Malaysia and Indonesia); and one country that is religiously diverse, with no single group forming a majority (Singapore). We also are surveying five additional countries and territories in Asia, to be covered in a future report.

Pew Research Center has produced a supplemental syntax file containing SPSS code to generate common analytic variables in the survey's corresponding report and toplines. The ARDA has provided this syntax in a copyable PDF document as an additional download.

In 2023, government expenditure on recreation, culture and religion in Thailand amounted to around ** billion Thai baht. This was a slight decrease in expenditures compared to the previous year, which reached nearly ** billion Thai baht.

** percent of respondents in India and Thailand agreed with the statement that religious practices are an important part of their countries' citizens moral life. By contrast, only ** percent of respondents in Japan and ** percent in Hungary and Sweden did the same.

Abstract

The National Statistical Office carries out a population and housing census every 10 years, according to the United Nations’ recommendation. The 2010 census in Thailand was the eleventh population census and the fifth housing census of Thailand, and marked the 100th Anniversary of the Thailand Population Census Program.

The objectives of the census were: 1) To compile basic information on the population and housing characteristics such as gender, age, religion, nationality, education, marital status, work status, type of dwelling and so on. 2) To obtain basic statistics at sub-region level (Village, area). 3) To measure changes in the composition of population and housing during the past 10 years.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual
• Housing

Universe

The coverage of population and the residence where population actually live in are as follows. Population in coverage: - All Thais citizens residing in Thailand on the Census day (September 1, 2010); - Thais/Non-Thais who usually live in Thailand but temporarily be outside the country on the Census Day; - All military servants, defenses, civil servants, and Thai diplomats, including their families, of which their stations were outside of Thailand. - Non-Thais who residing in Thailand at least three months prior to the Census Day.

Population not covered: - Non-Thais military servants, defenses, civil servants, and diplomats, including their families, of which their stations were inside Thailand. - Non-Thais who live in Thailand less than three months prior to the Census Day. - Refugees or illegal migrants who live in the refugee camps.

Housing coverage: - All houses or dwellings where people live in such as private houses, buildings, public housing, rooms in office, domiciles under bridges, etc.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Thai Christian Fellowship

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Thai Muslim Community USA

The majority of Japanese adhere to Shintoism, a traditional Japanese religion focusing on rituals and worship at shrines. In 2021, around 48.6 percent of the total population of Japan participated in Shinto practices. Closely behind is Buddhism, with more than 46 percent of the population adhering to its practices. Most Japanese thus practice both religions. The original ShintoShintoism adherents worship spirits or gods at shrines, often publicly, through rituals and traditions. Shintoism is deeply ingrained in the Japanese culture and way of life, but the number of followers has been decreasing over the past years, as has the number of Japanese who are adhering to any kind of religion. Tradition seems to have to make way for modern attitudes and choices – still the number of people who call themselves Shinto adherents is quite high, even if they do not actively practice it. Everything zen in BuddhismWhile Shintoism seems to become a thing of the past, the number of Buddhists, on the other hand, has been stable over the last decade, and if anything, has only slightly decreased. Japan is, in fact, among the countries with the largest Buddhist communities, right after China, of course, and Thailand. This might be due to Buddhism being able to adapt much easier to modern times and its adherents’ everyday lives, as well as a better PR machine – Buddhism is, after all, also quite popular in the Western world.

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Thai Christian Missionary Church

Thailand has one of the world’s highest prevalence of cervical cancer, mainly caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV infections can successfully be prevented by vaccination, which is available at a cost but not yet implemented in the national vaccination program. Parents play a critical role in deciding whether to vaccinate their child against HPV. Thus, the aim was to examine the association between parents’ knowledge, beliefs, and acceptance of the HPV vaccination for their daughters, considering their socio-demographics and religious beliefs. A cross-sectional design was used among three schools in Thailand: Nakorn Phatom province (suburban) and Bangkok (urban). Parents of 9–12-year-old daughters completed the questionnaires, guided by the Health Belief Model. In total, 359 parents completed the questionnaires; of those, 301 were included in the final analyses. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis showed that background knowledge of HPV and the HPV vaccine was positively related to knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer. For beliefs, knowledge was positively associated with susceptibility (i.e., parents’ perceived risk of an HPV infection/ related disease), severity, and benefit. However, knowledge was not significantly related to barriers. For acceptance, higher susceptibility and benefit were related to higher acceptance, and greater knowledge was associated with higher acceptance. Thus, we found associations between parents’ knowledge, beliefs, and acceptance of the HPV vaccination for their daughters, considering their socio-demographics and religious beliefs. Parents, who reported religion as important, as opposed to those who did not, were more favorable toward the HPV vaccination. Four out of ten mothers had never undergone a cervical cancer screening, but most had accepted previous childhood vaccinations for their daughters. The overall acceptance of the vaccine was high, and we believe our results are promising for future implementation of the HPV vaccination in the national childhood vaccination program in Thailand.

Pew Research Center conducted random, probability-based surveys among 13,122 adults (ages 18 and older) across six South and Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Interviewing was carried out under the direction of Langer Research Associates. In Malaysia and Singapore, interviews were conducted via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) using mobile phones. In Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, interviews were administered face-to-face using tablet devices, also known as computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). All surveys were conducted between June 1 and Sept. 4, 2022.

This project was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. Funding for the Global Religious Futures project comes from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation (grant 61640). This publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

As of July 2024, one report has been published that focuses on the findings from this data: Buddhism, Islam and Religious Pluralism in South and Southeast Asia: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/09/12/buddhism-islam-and-religious-pluralism-in-south-and-southeast-asia/

Thaïlande: Christians as percent of the total population: Pour cet indicateur, The Cline Center for Democracy fournit des données pour la Thaïlande de 1960 à 2013. La valeur moyenne pour Thaïlande pendant cette période était de 0.6 pour cent avec un minimum de 0.5 pour cent en 1960 et un maximum de 0.6 pour cent en 1967.

In 2023, there were ** Buddhist temples located on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. There were *** churches on the island that year.

The global population of Buddhists is projected to slightly increase up until the year 2030, at which point it will begin a gradual decline. In terms of its share of total world population, however, Buddhism has already seen a decline from over seven percent in 2010, with this being projected to decline further to close to five percent in 2050. This decline is related to Buddhism being popular in countries whose populations are in a natural decline, such as Japan or South Korea (and Thailand in the near future), as well as demographic developments in countries that have a policy of state atheism, such as China or Vietnam.While this decline in its traditional regions of influence in East and Southeast Asia will cause an aggregate fall in the number of Buddhists, there is likely to be some growth in other regions of the globe, such as Western European and North American countries, where the popularity of the ideas of Buddhism have grown in influence in recent decades.

Thaïlande: Sunni Muslims as percent of the total population: Pour cet indicateur, The Cline Center for Democracy fournit des données pour la Thaïlande de à . La valeur moyenne pour Thaïlande pendant cette période était de pour cent avec un minimum de pour cent en et un maximum de pour cent en .

In the fiscal year of 2024, the budget expenditure of the Ministry of Culture of Thailand was over ************* Thai baht. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for the oversight of culture, religion, and art in Thailand, together with other cultural organizations.