Worldwide Adherents of All Religions
Figures on Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas are provided in the table.
Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas,
Mid–2010
Mid–2010
| Africa | Asia | Europe | Latin America | Northern America | ||||
| Christians | 488,880,000 | 350,822,000 | 584,809,000 | 544,592,000 | 283,308,000 | |||
| Affiliated | 463,320,000 | 346,770,000 | 559,393,000 | 538,553,000 | 229,796,000 | |||
| Roman Catholics | 170,484,000 | 139,526,000 | 276,688,000 | 470,622,000 | 84,400,000 | |||
| Protestants | 136,631,000 | 88,765,000 | 67,710,000 | 58,769,000 | 60,206,000 | |||
| Independents | 98,239,000 | 146,423,000 | 10,839,000 | 42,669,000 | 71,227,000 | |||
| Orthodox | 44,507,000 | 15,832,000 | 200,620,000 | 1,038,000 | 7,262,000 | |||
| Anglicans | 50,215,000 | 865,000 | 26,428,000 | 865,000 | 2,795,000 | |||
| Marginal Christians | 3,667,000 | 3,136,000 | 4,113,000 | 11,239,000 | 11,820,000 | |||
| Doubly affiliated | −40,423,000 | −47,777,000 | −27,005,000 | −46,649,000 | −7,914,000 | |||
| Unaffiliated | 25,560,000 | 4,052,000 | 25,416,000 | 6,039,000 | 53,512,000 | |||
| Muslims | 421,938,820 | 1,083,354,900 | 40,174,000 | 1,599,000 | 5,598,000 | |||
| Hindus | 2,945,000 | 935,753,000 | 991,000 | 789,000 | 1,867,000 | |||
| Nonreligious (agnostics) | 5,995,000 | 504,352,000 | 84,652,000 | 16,941,410 | 43,211,700 | |||
| Buddhists | 258,000 | 455,412,000 | 1,777,000 | 760,000 | 3,845,000 | |||
| Chinese folk-religionists | 133,000 | 452,762,000 | 438,000 | 189,000 | 781,000 | |||
| Ethnoreligionists | 109,592,000 | 153,565,000 | 1,150,000 | 3,802,000 | 1,246,000 | |||
| Atheists | 594,000 | 116,204,000 | 15,390,000 | 2,901,000 | 2,013,000 | |||
| New religionists | 117,000 | 59,611,000 | 364,000 | 1,744,000 | 1,747,000 | |||
| Sikhs | 74,000 | 22,496,000 | 500,000 | 6,900 | 613,000 | |||
| Jews | 134,000 | 5,980,000 | 1,914,000 | 963,000 | 5,720,000 | |||
| Spiritists | 2,900 | 2,100 | 143,000 | 13,330,000 | 247,000 | |||
| Daoists (Taoists) | 0 | 8,412,000 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 | |||
| Baha’is | 2,178,000 | 3,433,000 | 142,000 | 902,000 | 572,000 | |||
| Confucianists | 20,200 | 6,433,000 | 15,500 | 490 | 0 | |||
| Jains | 95,100 | 5,056,000 | 18,800 | 1,400 | 102,000 | |||
| Shintoists | 0 | 2,700,000 | 0 | 7,800 | 64,200 | |||
| Zoroastrians | 980 | 148,000 | 5,700 | 0 | 21,400 | |||
| Other religionists | 85,000 | 245,000 | 275,000 | 120,000 | 690,000 | |||
| Total population | 1,033,043,000 | 4,166,741,000 | 732,759,000 | 588,649,000 | 351,659,000 | |||
| Oceania | World | % | Change Rate (%) | Number of Countries | ||||
| Christians | 28,205,000 | 2,280,616,000 | 33.0 | 1.20 | 232 | |||
| Affiliated | 23,759,000 | 2,161,591,000 | 31.3 | 1.24 | 232 | |||
| Roman Catholics | 8,941,000 | 1,150,661,000 | 16.7 | 1.06 | 231 | |||
| Protestants | 7,714,000 | 419,795,000 | 6.1 | 1.48 | 229 | |||
| Independents | 1,271,00 | 370,668,000 | 5.4 | 2.04 | 220 | |||
| Orthodox | 968,000 | 270,227,000 | 3.9 | 0.34 | 136 | |||
| Anglicans | 4,883,000 | 86,051,000 | 1.2 | 1.44 | 161 | |||
| Marginal Christians | 668,000 | 34,643,000 | 0.5 | 1.74 | 217 | |||
| Doubly affiliated | −686,000 | −170,454,000 | −2.5 | 1.06 | 174 | |||
| Unaffiliated | 4,446,000 | 119,025,000 | 1.7 | 0.64 | 226 | |||
| Muslims | 524,000 | 1,553,188,720 | 22.5 | 1.79 | 209 | |||
| Hindus | 526,000 | 942,871,000 | 13.6 | 1.38 | 125 | |||
| Nonreligious (agnostics) | 4,629,100 | 659,781,210 | 9.6 | 0.48 | 231 | |||
| Buddhists | 573,000 | 462,625,000 | 6.7 | 0.86 | 150 | |||
| Chinese folk-religionists | 101,000 | 454,404,000 | 6.6 | 0.56 | 119 | |||
| Ethnoreligionists | 368,000 | 269,723,000 | 3.9 | 1.44 | 145 | |||
| Atheists | 462,000 | 137,564,000 | 2.0 | −0.17 | 220 | |||
| New religionists | 101,000 | 63,684,000 | 0.9 | 0.21 | 119 | |||
| Sikhs | 48,600 | 23,738,500 | 0.3 | 1.42 | 55 | |||
| Jews | 113,000 | 14,824,000 | 0.2 | 0.69 | 139 | |||
| Spiritists | 7,600 | 13,732,600 | 0.2 | 0.89 | 57 | |||
| Daoists (Taoists) | 4,400 | 8,429,100 | 0.1 | 0.52 | 6 | |||
| Baha’is | 110,000 | 7,337,000 | 0.1 | 1.56 | 221 | |||
| Confucianists | 47,600 | 6,516,790 | 0.1 | 0.45 | 16 | |||
| Jains | 3,200 | 5,276,500 | 0.1 | −0.04 | 19 | |||
| Shintoists | 0 | 2,772,000 | 0.0 | 1.32 | 8 | |||
| Zoroastrians | 2,500 | 178,580 | 0.0 | 0.83 | 27 | |||
| Other religionists | 12,000 | 1,427,000 | 0.0 | 1.31 | 79 | |||
| Total population | 35,838,000 | 6,908,689,000 | 100.0 | 1.19 | 232 | |||
| Continents. These follow current UN demographic terminology, which now divides the world into the six major areas shown above. See United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision (New York: UN, 2009), with populations of all continents, regions, and countries covering the period 1950–2050, with 100 variables for every country each year. Note that "Asia" includes the former Soviet Central Asian states, and "Europe" includes all of Russia eastward to the Pacific. | ||||||||
| Change Rate. This column documents the annual change in 2010 (calculated as an average annual change from 2000 to 2010) in worldwide religious and nonreligious adherents. Note that in 2010 the annual growth of world population was 1.19%, or a net increase of 79,284,600 persons. | ||||||||
| Countries. The last column enumerates sovereign and nonsovereign countries in which each religion or religious grouping has a numerically significant and organized following. | ||||||||
| Adherents. As defined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a person’s religion is what he or she professes, confesses, or states that it is. Totals are enumerated for each of the world’s 232 countries following the methodology of the World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (2001), and World Christian Trends (2001), using recent censuses, polls, surveys, yearbooks, reports, Web sites, literature, and other data. See the World Christian Database (www.worldchristiandatabase.org, Brill) and World Religion Database (www.worldreligiondatabase.org, Brill) for more detail. Religions (including nonreligious and atheists) are ranked in order of worldwide size in mid-2010. | ||||||||
| Atheists. Persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including the militantly antireligious (opposed to all religion). A flurry of recent books have outlined the Western philosophical and scientific basis for atheism. Ironically, the vast majority of atheists today are found in Asia (primarily Chinese communists). | ||||||||
| Buddhists. 56% Mahayana, 38% Theravada (Hinayana), 6% Tantrayana (Lamaism). | ||||||||
| Chinese folk-religionists. Followers of a unique complex of beliefs and practices that may include universism (yin/yang cosmology with dualities earth/heaven, evil/good, darkness/light), ancestor cult, Confucian ethics, divination, festivals, folk religion, goddess worship, household gods, local deities, mediums, metaphysics, monasteries, neo-Confucianism, popular religion, sacrifices, shamans, spirit-writing, and Daoist (Taoist) and Buddhist elements. | ||||||||
| Christians. Followers of Jesus Christ, enumerated here under Affiliated, those affiliated with churches (church members, with names written on church rolls, usually total number of baptized persons including children baptized, dedicated, or undedicated): total in 2010 being 2,161,591,000, shown above divided among the six standardized ecclesiastical megablocs and with (negative and italicized) figures for those Doubly affiliated persons (all who are baptized members of two denominations) and Unaffiliated, who are persons professing or confessing in censuses or polls to be Christians though not so affiliated. Independents. This term here denotes members of Christian churches and networks that regard themselves as postdenominationalist and neoapostolic and thus independent of historical, mainstream, organized, institutionalized, confessional, denominationalist Christianity. Marginal Christians. Members of denominations who define themselves as Christians but on the margins of organized mainstream Christianity (e.g., Unitarians, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, and Religious Science). | ||||||||
| Confucianists. Non-Chinese followers of Confucius and Confucianism, mostly Koreans in Korea. | ||||||||
| Ethnoreligionists. Followers of local, tribal, animistic, or shamanistic religions, with members restricted to one ethnic group. | ||||||||
| Hindus. 68% Vaishnavites, 27% Shaivites, 2% neo-Hindus and reform Hindus. | ||||||||
| Jews. Adherents of Judaism. For detailed data on "core" Jewish population, see the annual "World Jewish Populations" article in the American Jewish Committee’s American Jewish Year Book. | ||||||||
| Muslims. 84% Sunnites, 14% Shi’ites, 2% other schools. | ||||||||
| New religionists. Followers of Asian 20th-century neoreligions, neoreligious movements, radical new crisis religions, and non-Christian syncretistic mass religions. | ||||||||
| Nonreligious (agnostics). Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, uninterested, or dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion but not militantly so. | ||||||||
| Other religionists. Including a handful of religions, quasi-religions, pseudoreligions, parareligions, religious or mystic systems, and religious and semireligious brotherhoods of numerous varieties. | ||||||||
| Total population. UN medium variant figures for mid-2010, as given in World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision. | ||||||||
Religious Adherents in the U.S
Figures on Religious Adherents in the U.S. are provided in the table.
Religious Adherents in the United States of America, 1900–2010
| 1900 | % | mid-1970 | % | mid-1990 | % | mid-2000 | % | |
| Christians | 73,260,000 | 96.4 | 189,873,000 | 90.6 | 217,487,600 | 85.3 | 236,127,200 | 82.0 |
| Affiliated | 54,425,000 | 71.6 | 152,754,000 | 72.9 | 175,182,600 | 68.7 | 192,704,000 | 66.9 |
| Independents | 5,850,000 | 7.7 | 34,702,000 | 16.6 | 66,900,000 | 26.2 | 63,877,000 | 22.2 |
| Roman Catholics | 10,775,000 | 14.2 | 48,305,000 | 23.1 | 56,500,000 | 22.2 | 62,970,000 | 21.9 |
| Protestants | 35,000,000 | 46.1 | 58,568,000 | 28.0 | 60,216,000 | 23.6 | 57,544,000 | 20.0 |
| Marginal Christians | 800,000 | 1.1 | 6,114,000 | 2.9 | 8,940,000 | 3.5 | 10,085,000 | 3.5 |
| Orthodox | 400,000 | 0.5 | 4,395,000 | 2.1 | 5,150,000 | 2.0 | 5,516,000 | 1.9 |
| Anglicans | 1,600,000 | 2.1 | 3,196,000 | 1.5 | 2,450,000 | 1.0 | 2,300,000 | 0.8 |
| Doubly affiliated | 0 | 0.0 | −2,526,000 | −1.2 | −24,973,400 | −9.8 | −9,588,000 | −3.3 |
| Evangelicals | 32,068,000 | 42.2 | 35,117,000 | 16.8 | 38,400,000 | 15.1 | 39,588,000 | 13.8 |
| evangelicals | 11,000,000 | 14.5 | 45,500,000 | 21.7 | 90,656,000 | 35.6 | 95,900,000 | 33.3 |
| Unaffiliated | 18,835,000 | 24.8 | 37,119,000 | 17.7 | 42,305,000 | 16.6 | 43,423,200 | 15.1 |
| Nonreligious (agnostics) | 1,000,000 | 1.3 | 10,270,000 | 4.9 | 21,442,000 | 8.4 | 33,083,000 | 11.5 |
| Jews | 1,500,000 | 2.0 | 6,700,000 | 3.2 | 5,535,000 | 2.2 | 5,442,000 | 1.9 |
| Muslims | 10,000 | 0.0 | 800,000 | 0.4 | 3,500,000 | 1.4 | 4,034,000 | 1.4 |
| Black Muslims | 0 | 0.0 | 200,000 | 0.1 | 1,250,000 | 0.5 | 1,650,000 | 0.6 |
| Buddhists | 30,000 | 0.0 | 200,000 | 0.1 | 1,880,000 | 0.7 | 2,522,000 | 0.9 |
| New religionists | 10,000 | 0.0 | 560,000 | 0.3 | 1,155,000 | 0.5 | 1,503,000 | 0.5 |
| Hindus | 1,000 | 0.0 | 100,000 | 0.0 | 750,000 | 0.3 | 1,245,000 | 0.4 |
| Atheists | 1,000 | 0.0 | 200,000 | 0.1 | 770,000 | 0.3 | 1,178,000 | 0.4 |
| Ethnoreligionists | 100,000 | 0.1 | 70,000 | 0.0 | 780,000 | 0.3 | 988,000 | 0.3 |
| Baha’is | 2,800 | 0.0 | 138,000 | 0.1 | 600,000 | 0.2 | 439,000 | 0.2 |
| Sikhs | 0 | 0.0 | 10,000 | 0.0 | 160,000 | 0.1 | 242,000 | 0.1 |
| Spiritists | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 120,000 | 0.0 | 197,000 | 0.1 |
| Chinese folk-religionists | 70,000 | 0.1 | 90,000 | 0.0 | 76,000 | 0.0 | 101,000 | 0.0 |
| Shintoists | 0 | 0.0 | 3,000 | 0.0 | 5,000 | 0.0 | 74,800 | 0.0 |
| Zoroastrians | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 50,000 | 0.0 | 58,100 | 0.0 |
| Daoists (Taoists) | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 14,400 | 0.0 | 16,400 | 0.0 |
| Jains | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 10,000 | 0.0 | 11,500 | 0.0 |
| Other religionists | 10,200 | 0.0 | 450,000 | 0.2 | 530,000 | 0.2 | 580,000 | 0.2 |
| U.S. population | 75,995,000 | 100.0 | 209,464,000 | 100.0 | 254,865,000 | 100.0 | 287,842,000 | 100.0 |
| Annual Change, 2000–2010 | ||||||||
| mid–2010 | % | Natural | Conversion | Total | Rate (%) | |||
| Christians | 257,334,700 | 81.0 | 2,444,500 | −323,700 | 2,120,800 | 0.86 | ||
| Affiliated | 209,433,000 | 65.9 | 1,995,000 | −322,100 | 1,672,900 | 0.84 | ||
| Independents | 70,169,000 | 22.1 | 661,300 | −32,100 | 629,200 | 0.94 | ||
| Roman Catholics | 70,465,000 | 22.2 | 651,900 | 97,600 | 749,500 | 1.13 | ||
| Protestants | 56,716,000 | 17.9 | 595,700 | −678,500 | −82,800 | −0.14 | ||
| Marginal Christians | 11,296,000 | 3.6 | 104,400 | 16,700 | 121,100 | 1.14 | ||
| Orthodox | 6,254,000 | 2.0 | 57,100 | 16,700 | 73,800 | 1.26 | ||
| Anglicans | 2,191,000 | 0.7 | 23,800 | −34,700 | −10,900 | −0.48 | ||
| Doubly-affiliated | −7,658,000 | −2.4 | −99,300 | 292,300 | 193,000 | −2.22 | ||
| Evangelicals | 40,957,000 | 12.9 | 409,800 | −272,900 | 136,900 | 0.34 | ||
| evangelicals | 106,063,000 | 33.4 | 992,800 | 23,500 | 1,016,300 | 1.01 | ||
| Unaffiliated | 47,901,700 | 15.1 | 449,500 | −1,600 | 447,900 | 0.99 | ||
| Nonreligious (agnostics) | 39,395,000 | 12.4 | 332,100 | 329,100 | 661,200 | 1.89 | ||
| Jews | 5,242,000 | 1.7 | 56,300 | −76,300 | −20,000 | −0.37 | ||
| Muslims | 4,806,000 | 1.5 | 41,800 | 35,400 | 77,200 | 1.77 | ||
| Black Muslims | 1,850,000 | 0.6 | 17,100 | 2,900 | 20,000 | 1.15 | ||
| Buddhists | 3,348,000 | 1.1 | 36,500 | 16,100 | 52,600 | 1.40 | ||
| New religionists | 1,663,000 | 0.5 | 15,600 | 400 | 16,000 | 1.02 | ||
| Hindus | 1,479,000 | 0.5 | 12,900 | 10,500 | 23,400 | 1.74 | ||
| Atheists | 1,329,000 | 0.4 | 12,200 | 2,900 | 15,100 | 1.21 | ||
| Ethnoreligionists | 1,110,000 | 0.3 | 10,200 | 2,000 | 12,200 | 1.17 | ||
| Baha’is | 525,000 | 0.2 | 4,500 | 4,100 | 8,600 | 1.81 | ||
| Sikhs | 286,000 | 0.1 | 2,500 | 1,900 | 4,400 | 1.68 | ||
| Spiritists | 230,000 | 0.1 | 2,000 | 1,300 | 3,300 | 1.56 | ||
| Chinese folk-religionists | 111,000 | 0.0 | 1,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 0.95 | ||
| Shintoists | 87,400 | 0.0 | 800 | 500 | 1,300 | 1.57 | ||
| Zoroastrians | 64,200 | 0.0 | 600 | 0 | 600 | 1.00 | ||
| Daoists (Taoists) | 18,000 | 0.0 | 200 | 0 | 200 | 0.94 | ||
| Jains | 12,700 | 0.0 | 100 | 0 | 100 | 1.00 | ||
| Other religionists | 600,000 | 0.2 | 6,000 | −4,000 | 2,000 | 0.34 | ||
| U.S. population | 317,641,000 | 100.0 | 2,980,000 | 0 | 2,980,000 | 0.99 | ||
| Methodology. This table extracts and analyzes a microcosm of the world religion table. It depicts the United States, the country with the largest number of adherents to Christianity, the world’s largest religion. Statistics at five points in time from 1900 to 2010 are presented. Each religion’s Annual Change for 2000–2010 is also analyzed by Natural increase (births minus deaths, plus immigrants minus emigrants) per year and Conversion increase (new converts minus new defectors) per year, which together constitute the Total increase per year. Rate increase is then computed as percentage per year. | ||||||||
| Structure. Vertically the table lists 30 major religious categories. The major categories (including nonreligious) in the U.S. are listed with largest (Christians) first. Indented names of groups in the "Adherents" column are subcategories of the groups above them and are also counted in these unindented totals, so they should not be added twice into the column total. Figures in italics draw adherents from all categories of Christians above and so cannot be added together with them. Figures for Christians are built upon detailed head counts by churches, often to the last digit. Totals are then rounded to the nearest 1,000. Because of rounding, the corresponding percentage figures may sometimes not total exactly to 100%. Religions are ranked in order of size in 2010. | ||||||||
| Christians. All persons who profess publicly to follow Jesus Christ as God and Savior. This category is subdivided into Affiliated (church members) and Unaffiliated (nominal) Christians (professing Christians not affiliated with any church). See also the note on Christians to the world religion table. The first six lines under "Affiliated Christians" are ranked by size in 2010 of each of the six megablocs (Anglican, Independent, Marginal Christian, Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic). Evangelicals/evangelicals. These two designations—italicized and enumerated separately here—cut across all of the six Christian traditions or ecclesiastical blocs listed above and should be considered separately from them. The Evangelicals (capitalized "E") are mainly Protestant churches, agencies, and individuals who call themselves by this term (for example, members of the National Association of Evangelicals); they usually emphasize 5 or more of 7, 9, or 21 fundamental doctrines (salvation by faith, personal acceptance, verbal inspiration of Scripture, depravity of man, Virgin Birth, miracles of Christ, atonement, evangelism, Second Advent, et al.). The evangelicals (lowercase "e") are Christians of evangelical conviction from all traditions who are committed to the evangel (gospel) and involved in personal witness and mission in the world. | ||||||||
| Jews. Core Jewish population relating to Judaism, excluding Jewish persons professing a different religion. | ||||||||
| Other categories. Definitions are as given under the world religion table. | ||||||||
Additional Media
More about Religion: Year In Review 2010
5 References found in Britannica Articles
Assorted References
- France (in France in 2010: Domestic Affairs.)
- Ireland (in Ireland in 2010)
- Malaysia (in Malaysia in 2010)
- Samoa (in Samoa in 2010)
- Senegal (in Senegal in 2010)
