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.

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.

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 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 2020, Christianity was the largest religion in the world, with around *** billion believers. In the second place was Islam, with around *** billion adherents.

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."

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.

In 2022, ** percent of Hindus and Buddhists worldwide lived in Asia-Pacific. In comparison, ** percent of Jews lived in North America, and **** percent lived in the Middle East and North Africa. Christians were more evenly divided around the continents.

This map service shows the breakdown of religious groups by population and percentage for each country. The total population (July 2013 estimate) by country is also included. Map Service published and hosted by Esri Canada © 2013. Content Source(s): Countries, ArcGIS Online World Religions, CIA, The World Factbook 2012 (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html#195 & http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/#wrapper)World Religions, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Excel-Data/population.htm), Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/), Web Archive (http://archive.org/web/web.php), Cultural Crossing (http://www.culturecrossing.net/) and the Association of Religion Data Archives (http://www.thearda.com/). Coordinate System: Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere (WKID 102100) Update Frequency: As Required Publication Date: June 2013 Islam includes Sunni, Shia and DruzeChristianity includes Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Mormon and Jehovah’s WitnessTraditional includes Indigenous beliefs, Shamanism, Spiritualist and AnimistJudaism includes Jewish and ZionistBuddhism includes Buddhist, Shinto, Taoist and Folk religionsSyncretic includes Chondogyo, Cao Dai, Bantu, Voodoo, Modekngei, Kimbanguist and RastafarianNon-religious includes Atheist, Agnostic and IrreligionUnaffiliated includes none, unspecified and unknownOther includes Yezidi and Ethnoreligionist

A computerized data set of demographic, economic and social data for 227 countries of the world. Information presented includes population, health, nutrition, mortality, fertility, family planning and contraceptive use, literacy, housing, and economic activity data. Tabular data are broken down by such variables as age, sex, and urban/rural residence. Data are organized as a series of statistical tables identified by country and table number. Each record consists of the data values associated with a single row of a given table. There are 105 tables with data for 208 countries. The second file is a note file, containing text of notes associated with various tables. These notes provide information such as definitions of categories (i.e. urban/rural) and how various values were calculated. The IDB was created in the U.S. Census Bureau''s International Programs Center (IPC) to help IPC staff meet the needs of organizations that sponsor IPC research. The IDB provides quick access to specialized information, with emphasis on demographic measures, for individual countries or groups of countries. The IDB combines data from country sources (typically censuses and surveys) with IPC estimates and projections to provide information dating back as far as 1950 and as far ahead as 2050. Because the IDB is maintained as a research tool for IPC sponsor requirements, the amount of information available may vary by country. As funding and research activity permit, the IPC updates and expands the data base content. Types of data include: * Population by age and sex * Vital rates, infant mortality, and life tables * Fertility and child survivorship * Migration * Marital status * Family planning Data characteristics: * Temporal: Selected years, 1950present, projected demographic data to 2050. * Spatial: 227 countries and areas. * Resolution: National population, selected data by urban/rural * residence, selected data by age and sex. Sources of data include: * U.S. Census Bureau * International projects (e.g., the Demographic and Health Survey) * United Nations agencies Links: * ICPSR: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/08490

Data on atheist populations and gender ratios calculated from United Nations Statistics Division “Population by religion, sex and urban/rural residence” data (http://data.un.org, access date 21/03/2014).

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.

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.

Religion and Bangladesh

Religion in Bangladesh is a sensitive issue, mostly because Bangladesh is officially a secular state but recognizes Islam as an official, state religion. Historically and doctrinally, Islamic scholars don’t accept nations that are secular because they think that religion, society and private life are all part of the great community they like to call ‘umma’.

The main religion in Bangladesh is Islam because it is practiced by almost 90 percent of the country’s population. The rest of 10 percent adhere to Hinduism. The type of Islam that is practiced in Bangladesh is Sunni Islam with a lot of Sufi influences. Sunni is the most numerous branch of Islam in the world. Countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have Sunni majority populations. The Sufi practices that influence the Islamic religion in Bangladesh are commonly known as mysticism. Sufi followers are poor men that don’t eat, don’t drink and spend their days in deep prayer in order to achieve spiritual connection with God.

Bangladesh has the fourth largest Muslim population in the world, with over 130 million followers, right after Indonesia, Pakistan and India. In its constitution, Bangladesh is recognized as a secular state. For a short period of time, when Bangladesh was under Pakistani rule, Islam was made the state’s official religion. But the Supreme Court or High Court of Bangladesh ruled that Bangladesh must return to the principles of the 1972 constitution, meaning that it mustn’t have an official religion.

The problem with Islam gaining too much power in Bangladesh is that it unbalances the genders issues. Islamic edicts or fatwas have been issued mostly against women by religious courts as punishments for their nonreligious behavior. Global NGO’s are fighting such edicts in order to maintain a fair judgment when it comes to men and women. Bangladesh is a country where gender issues, as well as religious issues are very sensitive subjects.

In 2023, over ** percent of Indonesians declared themselves to be Muslim, followed by *** percent who were Christians. Indonesia has the largest Islamic population in the world and for this reason is often recognized as a Muslim nation. However, Indonesia is not a Muslim nation according to its constitution. The archipelago is a multifaith country and officially recognizes six religions – Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Not all provinces in Indonesia are Muslim majority The spread of Islam in Indonesia began on the west side of the archipelago, where the main maritime trade routes were located. Until today, most of the Indonesian Muslim population are residing in Western and Central Indonesia, while the majority religion of several provinces in Eastern Indonesia, such as East Nusa Tenggara and Bali, is Christian and Hindu, respectively. Discrimination towards other beliefs in Indonesia The Indonesian constitution provides for freedom of religion. However, the Government Restrictions Index Score on religion in Indonesia is relatively high. Indonesians who practice unrecognized religions, including Indonesia’s indigenous or traditional belief systems, such as animism, dynamism, and totemism, face legal restrictions and discrimination. Indonesian law requires its citizens to put one of the recognized religions on their national identity cards, with some exceptions for indigenous religions. Although legally citizens may leave the section blank, atheism or agnosticism is considered uncommon in Indonesia.

Islam and Christianity form the two dominant religions in Nigeria. The basis of traditional religions was systematically exterminated in the religio-cultural life of the Nigerian people after their contact with colonialism. Approximately 90 percent of the Nigerian people have since preferred to be identified with either Islam or Christianity.Nigeria’s contact with Islam predated that of Christianity and European colonialism; its spread was facilitated into Sub-Saharan Africa through trade and commerce. The northern part of Nigeria is symbolic to the history of Islam, as it penetrated the area through the Kanem-Borno Empire in the 11th century before spreading to the other predominately Hausa states. Islam was then introduced into the traditional societies of the Yoruba-speaking people of south-west Nigeria through their established commercial relationship with people of the North, particularly the Nupe and Fulani.Christianity reached Nigeria in the 15th century with the visitation of the Roman and Catholic missionaries to the coastal areas of the Niger-Delta region, although there were few recorded converts and churches built during this period. Christianity soon recorded a boost in the southern region given its opposition to the slave trade and its promotion of Western education. In contrast to the smooth process Christian evangelization underwent in the South, its process in the North was difficult because Islam had already become well-established.Given the philosophy of Islam as a complete way of life for a Muslim, Islam has always been closely attached to politics in Nigeria. The emergence of particular Islamic groups was significantly influenced by international events, particularly the 1979 Iranian revolution and the corresponding disenchantment from the West. These developments shaped Nigerian national politics of the period as Muslims radically redefined their political interests in line with religion and began to clamor for the incorporation of the Sharia legal system into the country’s judicial system. Nigeria then tried to harness opportunities accruable from other Muslim countries by becoming a registered member with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1985. This inflamed Christians and nurtured the fear of domination by their Muslim counterparts and the possibility of a gradual extinction of their religio-political strength in the national political structure. The distinct religious separation has also instigated violence in present-day Nigeria, including the Sharia riot in Kaduna in 2000, ongoing ethno-religious violence in Jos since 2001, and the 2011 post-election violence that erupted in some northern states. Nigerians’ continued loyalty to religion compared to that of the country continues to sustain major political debate, conflict, and violent outbreaks between populations of the two faiths.

ISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code

AREA_AFF - Geographic area affected by disease

DT_START - Date health event started

DT_END - Date health event ended

TYPE - Type of disease group

DISEASE - Name of disease

NUM_DTH - Number of people reported dead from disease

NUM_AFF - Number of people affected from disease

SOURCE_DT - Source creation date

SOURCE - Primary source

Collection

This HGIS was created using information collected from several websites. EM-DAT, the World Health Organization, and news reports provided information about the outbreaks.

The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe Analytics is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources.

Sources (HGIS)

Egunganga, Vincent, Ami Sadiq, and Hir Joseph. All AfricaHIR JOSEPH, "Nigeria: Lassa Fever Returns Vicio." Last modified March 09, 2013. Accessed April 16, 2013. http://allafrica.com/.

EM DAT, "Country Database; Nigeria." Last modified March 2013. Accessed April 16, 2013. http://www.emdat.be/.

World Health Organization, "Global Health Observatory; Nigeria." Last modified 2012. Accessed April 16, 2013. http://www.who.int/en/.

Sources (Metadata)

Encyclopedia of the Nations, "Nigeria Country Specific Information." Last modified 2013. Accessed March 28, 2013. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com.

Kates, Jennifer, and Alyssa Wilson Leggoe. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, "HIV/AIDS; The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Nigeria." Last modified October 2005. Accessed April 16, 2013. http://www.kff.org/.

United States Embassy in Nigeria, "Nigeria Malaria Fact Sheet." Last modified December 2011. Accessed April 16, 2013. http://nigeria.usembassy.gov.

World Health Organization, "Global Task Force on Cholera Control." Last modified January 18, 2012. Accessed April 16, 2013. http://www.who.int/.

World Health Organization, "Meningococcal disease: situation in the African Meningitis Belt." Last modified 2012. Accessed March 14, 2013. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_05_24/en/index.html.

A cross-national data set of 21 variables was assembled for 212 countries from three sources (Barro and Lee 1994; Gordon 2005; CIA World Fact Book 2005). Our data set includes several proxy measures for national wealth, cultural diversity, social instability (both at national and international levels), and demography. Separate diversity measures were calculated for three different cultural domains, namely language, religion and ethnic groups . In addition, wealth variables (per capita GDP, and GINI, the coefficient of income inequality) were assembled, along with indicators of societal functioning drawn from the literature (especially Barro and Lee 1994), including indices of political rights (PRIGHTSB), revolutions and coups d'états (REVCOUP), and political instability (PINSTAB). Measures of international conflict were extracted from the social science literature, and the following were used: the proportion of the time between 1960-85 the country was involved in an external war (WARTIME), the number of international disputes in which the country was involved (TOTINTDISP), and an index of total military expenditure (TOTMILITEXP). Possible confounding variables such as population size (POPSIZE) and the number of international borders (NBINTBORDERS) were also included.

(UNCLASSIFIED) The Liberian population is religiously heterogeneous, comprised 85.6 percent Christian, 12.6 percent Muslim, 0.6 percent adherents of tribal or indigenous traditions, 1.5 percent non-religious, and less than 1 percent a combination of Bahais, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Primary denominations within the country’s Christian majority include Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal (AME), AME Zion, and Pentecostal. Many individuals identified as "Christian" retain a mix of Christian and indigenous (often animistic) beliefs. Both Christian and Muslim Liberians are dispersed throughout the country. Most Muslims belong to two distinct ethnic groups, the Mandingo—who are widely distributed—and the Vai who live mostly in western areas.Christianity reached Liberia in the 19th century with the arrival of freed slaves from the United States. Missionaries of various Protestant denominations started arriving in the 1820s, eventually forming what became one of the highest per capita missionary populations in the world. The first permanent Catholic mission in the country was established in the early 1900s. A Liberian Council of Churches composed of Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, and other similar groups now exists, and an evangelical association of churches and missions has operated on and off since 1966. Though religiously-motivated violence in Liberia is relatively uncommon, tensions between Christians and Muslims have escalated in the past. In October 2004, approximately 25 people were killed and several churches and mosques were destroyed in Monrovia during clashes between Christians of several ethnic groups and Mandingo Muslims. The Liberian constitution provides religious freedom for all inhabitants, and in practice, the government respects minority religious groups. According to a 2013 document published by the U.S. Department of State, the Liberian government does not discriminate based on religious affiliation, belief, or worship. Although there is no state religion in the country, government ceremonies commonly begin and end with prayers or hymns, the majority of which are Christian, though some are Muslim. Most private schools in the country are operated by churches or missions. The majority receive government funding, though non-religious schools are also heavily subsidized. Religious education is available as an elective in public schools, but is not required. Social welfare institutions are largely managed or affiliated with religious organizations, often in conjunction with international aid agencies. As regards the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa, some religious leaders in Liberia have cited “immoral acts” as the cause of the outbreak. In August 2014, Liberia’s Council of Churches agreed, “God is angry with Liberia,” and urged Liberians to seek forgiveness for corruption and immorality by staying indoors and fasting for three days.Attribute Table Field DescriptionsISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero identification / name ADM1_NAME - Administration level one identification / name ADM2_NAME - Administration level two identification / name NAME - Name of religious institution TYPE - Classification in the geodatabase (type of institution) CITY - City location available SPA_ACC - Spatial accuracy of site location (1 – high, 2 – medium, 3 – low) COMMENTS - Comments or notes regarding the religious institution SOURCE_DT - Source one creation date SOURCE - Source one SOURCE2_DT - Source two creation date SOURCE2 - Source two CollectionThe feature class was generated utilizing data from OpenStreetMap, Wikimapia, GeoNames and other sources. OpenStreetMap is a free worldwide map, created by crowd-sourcing. Wikimapia is open-content mapping focused on gathering all geographical objects in the world. GeoNames is a geographical places database maintained and edited by the online community. Consistent naming conventions for geographic locations were attempted but name variants may exist, which can include historical or less widespread interpretations.The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources.Metadata information was collected form U.S. Department of State publications as well as news media articles. Sources (HGIS)"Cathedral of St. Therese of The Child Jesus." GCatholic. July 2014. Accessed October 7, 2014. http://www.gcatholic.org.DigitalGlobe, "DigitalGlobe Imagery Archive." Accessed October 01, 2014. GeoNames, "Liberia." September 23, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.geonames.org.Google, September 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. www.google.com.OpenStreetMap, "Liberia." September 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.openstreetmap.org.Wikimapia, "Liberia." September 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://wikimapia.org.Sources (Metadata)Baden, Joel and Candida Moss. “Ebola Is Not God’s Wrath: Religious leaders are perpetuating dangerous, dehumanizing beliefs about sin and disease.” Slate. August 20, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.slate.com.“Country Profile: Liberia.” Soudan Interior Mission. January 01, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.sim.org.“Education System in Liberia.” Classbase. January 01, 2012. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.classbase.com.“Liberia 2005 International Religious Freedom Report.” United States Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. January 01, 2005. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.state.gov.“Liberia 2012 International Religious Freedom Report.” United States Department of State: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. January 01, 2005. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.state.gov.“Liberia 2014 International Religious Freedom Report.” United States Department of State. January 01, 2014. Accessed October 01, 2014. http://www.state.gov.

Islam is the major religion in many African countries, especially in the north of the continent. In Comoros, Libya, Western Sahara, at least 99 percent of the population was Muslim as of 202. These were the highest percentages on the continent. However, also in many other African nations, the majority of the population was Muslim. In Egypt, for instance, Islam was the religion of 79 percent of the people. Islam and other religions in Africa Africa accounts for an important share of the world’s Muslim population. As of 2019, 16 percent of the Muslims worldwide lived in Sub-Saharan Africa, while 20 percent of them lived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Together with Christianity, Islam is the most common religious affiliation in Africa, followed by several traditional African religions. Although to a smaller extent, numerous other religions are practiced on the continent: these include Judaism, the Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Number of Muslims worldwide Islam is one of the most widespread religions in the world. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims globally, with the largest Muslim communities living in the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, Indonesia hosts the highest number of Muslims worldwide, amounting to over 200 million, followed by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Islam is also present in Europe and America. The largest Islamic communities in Europe are in France (5.72 million), Germany (4.95 million), and the United Kingdom (4.13 million). In the United States, there is an estimated number of around 3.45 million Muslims.

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.