6 major religions in the world: The Global Religious Landscape | Pew Research Center

The Global Religious Landscape | Pew Research Center

Worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.

The demographic study – based on analysis of more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers – finds 2.2 billion Christians (32% of the world’s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23%), 1 billion Hindus (15%), nearly 500 million Buddhists (7%) and 14 million Jews (0.2%) around the world as of 2010. In addition, more than 400 million people (6%) practice various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions. An estimated 58 million people – slightly less than 1% of the global population – belong to other religions, including the Baha’i faith, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca and Zoroastrianism, to mention just a few. ¹

At the same time, the new study by the Pew Forum also finds that roughly one-in-six people around the globe (1.1 billion, or 16%) have no religious affiliation. This makes the unaffiliated the third-largest religious group worldwide, behind Christians and Muslims, and about equal in size to the world’s Catholic population. Surveys indicate that many of the unaffiliated hold some religious or spiritual beliefs (such as belief in God or a universal spirit) even though they do not identify with a particular faith. (See Religiously Unaffiliated.)

Geographic Distribution

The geographic distribution of religious groups varies considerably. Several religious groups are heavily concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, including the vast majority of Hindus (99%), Buddhists (99%), adherents of folk or traditional religions (90%) and members of other world religions (89%).

Three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76%) also live in the massive and populous Asia- Pacific region. Indeed, the number of religiously unaffiliated people in China alone (about 700 million) is more than twice the total population of the United States.

The Asia-Pacific region also is home to most of the world’s Muslims (62%). About 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa, and nearly 16% reside in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of the major religious groups covered in this study, Christians are the most evenly dispersed. Roughly equal numbers of Christians live in Europe (26%), Latin America and the Caribbean (24%) and sub-Saharan Africa (24%).

A plurality of Jews (44%) live in North America, while about four-in-ten (41%) live in the Middle East and North Africa – almost all of them in Israel.

Living as Majorities and Minorities

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the world’s people live in countries in which their religious group makes up a majority of the population. Only about a quarter (27%) of all people live as religious minorities. (This figure does not include subgroups of the eight major groups in this study, such as Shia Muslims living in Sunni-majority countries or Catholics living in Protestant-majority countries. )

Overwhelmingly, Hindus and Christians tend to live in countries where they are in the majority. Fully 97% of all Hindus live in the world’s three Hindu-majority countries (India, Mauritius and Nepal), and nearly nine-in-ten Christians (87%) are found in the world’s 157 Christian-majority countries. (To see the religious composition of each country, see Religious Composition by Country table.)

Though by smaller margins, most Muslims (73%) and religiously unaffiliated people (71%) also live in countries in which they are the predominant religious group. Muslims are a majority in 49 countries, including 19 of the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population in six countries, of which China is by far the largest. (The others are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan and North Korea.)

Most members of the other major religious groups live in countries in which they are in the minority. Seven-in-ten Buddhists (72%), for example, live as religious minorities. Just three-in-ten (28%) live in the seven countries where Buddhists are in the majority: Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Israel is the only country with a Jewish majority. There are no countries where members of other religions (such as Baha’is, Jains, Shintoists, Sikhs, Taoists, followers of Tenrikyo, Wiccans and Zoroastrians) make up a majority of the population. There are also no countries where people who identify with folk or traditional religions clearly form a majority.²

Young and Old

Some religions have much younger populations, on average, than others. In part, the age differences reflect the geographic distribution of religious groups. Those with a large share of adherents in fast-growing, developing countries tend to have younger populations. Those concentrated in China and in advanced industrial countries, where population growth is slower, tend to be older.

The median age of two major groups – Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) – is younger than the median age of the world’s overall population (28). ³ All the other groups are older than the global median. Christians have a median age of 30, followed by members of other religions (32), adherents of folk or traditional religions (33), the religiously unaffiliated (34) and Buddhists (34). Jews have the highest median age (36), more than a dozen years older than the youngest group, Muslims.

About the Study

These are among the key findings of a new study of the global religious landscape conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world.

The demographic study explores the size, geographic distribution and median age of eight major religious groups – including the unaffiliated – that together represent 100% of the estimated 2010 global population. The study is based on a country-by-country analysis of data from more than 2,500 national censuses, large-scale surveys and official population registers that were collected, evaluated and standardized by the Pew Forum’s demographers and other research staff. ⁴ Many countries have recently conducted a national census or are in the midst of doing so. Therefore, new data are likely to emerge over the next few years. However, a datacollection cut-off had to be made at some point; this report is based on information available as of early 2012.⁵

For estimates of the religious composition of individual countries, see Religious Composition by Country table. For details on the methodology used to produce estimates of religious populations in 232 countries and territories, see Appendix A. For a list of data sources by country, see Appendix B.

To see each country’s and territory’s population broken down by number and percentage into the eight major religious groups in the study, see the sortable tables at http://features.pewresearch.org/religion/grl/population-number.php.

There are some minor differences between the estimates presented in this study and previous Pew Forum estimates of Christian and Muslim populations around the world. These differences reflect the availability of new data sources, such as recently released censuses in a few countries, and the use of population growth projections to update estimates in countries with older primary sources. (For more details, see the Methodology.)

Defining the Religious Groups

This study is based on self-identification. It seeks to estimate the number of people around the world who view themselves as belonging to various religious groups. It does not attempt to measure the degree to which members of these groups actively practice their faiths or how religious they are.

In order to obtain statistics that are comparable across countries, the study attempts to count groups and individuals who self-identify as members of five widely recognized world religions – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews – as well as people associated with three other religious categories that may be less familiar:

Folk or Traditional Religions

Folk religions are closely tied to a particular people, ethnicity or tribe. In some cases, elements of other world religions are blended with local beliefs and customs. These faiths often have no formal creeds or sacred texts. Examples of folk religions include African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions.

The Religiously Unaffiliated

The religiously unaffiliated population includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold religious or spiritual beliefs. For example, various surveys have found that belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of unaffiliated Chinese adults, 30% of unaffiliated French adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults.⁶

Other Religions

The “other religions” category is diverse and comprises groups not classified elsewhere. This category includes followers of religions that often are not measured separately in censuses and surveys: the Baha’i faith, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, Zoroastrianism and many other religions. Because of the lack of data on these faiths in many countries, the Pew Forum has not attempted to estimate the size of individual religions within this category, though some rough estimates are available from other sources. (See Spotlight on Other Religions.)

Roadmap to the Report

These and other findings are discussed in more detail in the remainder of this report, which is divided into eight sections – one for each of the major religious groupings, in order of size:

• Christians
• Muslims
• Religiously Unaffiliated
• Hindus
• Buddhists
• Folk Religionists
• Other Religions
• Jews

To discuss the geographic distribution of religious groups, this report divides the world into six major regions: Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, North America and sub-Saharan Africa. For a list of countries in each region, see the Methodology.

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Footnotes:

1 Although some faiths in the “other religions” category have millions of adherents around the world, censuses and surveys in many countries do not measure them specifically. Estimates of the global size of these faiths generally come from other sources, such as the religious groups themselves. By far the largest of these groups are Sikhs, who number about 25 million, according to the World Religion Database. For more information, see Spotlight on Other Religions. (return to text)

2 For a discussion of the challenges of measuring the pervasiveness of folk or traditional religions, see the section on Folk Religionists. (return to text)

3 The median in a population is the midpoint when the entire population is ordered by some characteristic, such as age or income. If everyone alive in 2010 lined up from youngest to oldest, the person in the middle (the median) would be 28 years old. (return to text)

4 A population register is a list of all permanent residents of a country. See the United Nations Statistics Division’s description of population registers (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/popreg/popregmethods.htm). (return to text)

5 For instance, in December 2012, just before the release of this report, new religion data were released from the 2011 Census of England and Wales. The new data suggest a slightly different religious landscape than the estimate made by this study for the broader United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), which is based primarily on the 2010 Annual Population Survey carried out by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics.(return to text)

6 For more information on the beliefs and practices of religiously unaffiliated adults in the United States, see the Pew Forum’s October 2012 report “‘Nones’ on the Rise.” The Pew Forum’s U.S. surveys typically ask about belief in “God or a universal spirit.” French results are based on a Pew Forum analysis of 2008 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data. The ISSP survey asks about belief in God or a “higher power of some kind.” Chinese results are based on a Pew Forum analysis of the 2007 Spiritual Life Study of Chinese Residents, conducted by the Chinese polling firm Horizon. In China, the belief in God statistic measures belief in God, gods, spirits, ghosts or Buddha. (return to text)

Major Religions of the World

Updated September 9, 2022 |
Infoplease Staff

Jerusalem is a holy city for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, whose adherents comprise >50% of the world’s population.

See Major Holidays for listings of religious holidays.

The world’s faithful account for 83% of the global population; the great majority of these fall under twelve classical religions—Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. These twelve religions are the most prominent spiritual traditions that still exist. There are many smaller or less well-known religions. However, due to how much (or how little) different religions are represented in different communities, the layperson might not know much about the belief systems and traditions held by religious people worldwide. Infoplease is here to help with our overviews of nine of these classical religions. You can learn more about religion in the United States on our main religion page, as well as information about atheism, agnostic people, and the religiously unaffiliated.

Judaism

Judaism is a strictly monotheistic religion practiced by the Jewish people, an ethnic and religious nation descended from the historic peoples of Israel and Judah. Judaism, as it would be recognized today, originated in the Middle East in at least the 500s BCE, although certain religious traditions or beliefs can be traced back much further— in fact, according to the Hebrew calendar, the religion began in 3761 BCE, as the current year is 5782. Its adherents have long faced persecution from dominant religious groups around them. The Roman Empire destroyed the Second Temple, the center of Judaism, and the nation was scattered. Through to the modern day, Jews have been the victims of intense violence and discrimination. All the same, Judaism has persisted and remains one of the most visible and widely practiced religions in the world.
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Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered around the personage of Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ. Christianity arose in the 30s–50s CE as a religious offshoot of Judaism based on the teachings of Jesus, who was himself Jewish. Early Christianity rejected many of the social, cultural, and religious institutions of Judaism and pursued radically different strains of spiritual thought. Within a century a recognizable Church was founded. The texts of the faith and its most important creeds were codified in the 300s CE. Despite persecution, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire and all of its inheritors, and in the time since the different Christian denominations have collectively become the largest faith in the world by a wide margin.
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Islam

Islam is a strictly monotheistic faith founded by the prophet Muhammad in the year 607 in present-day Saudi Arabia. His teachings, collected in the Quran, claim common descent with many Jewish and Christian beliefs. Muhammad preached monotheism in the city of Mecca despite opposition from local polytheists, and quickly built a religious community of early Muslims. The Islamic community was forced to relocate to Medina in 622, after which the group codified and began their expansion across the Arabian peninsula. Nearly all of Arabia converted to Islam by 632, the year of Muhammad’s death, and in the years since it has grown to become the world’s second largest religion, mostly concentrated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
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Baha’i

Baha’i is the youngest major world religion, founded in 1863 by the prophet Bahá’u’lláh. Baha’i grew out of the earlier religion of Babism, whose founder the Bab presaged the coming of another great prophet like the coming of Muhammad. Baha’i originated in Iran, although its current center is in Haifa, Israel. Baha’i is a monotheistic religion, but it teaches that religious truth is manifested and revealed by the founders of all the major world religions, including Jesus Christ and the Buddha. Baha’is believe that the different cultural interpretations of religion all have the same goal, and they strive for prosperity across faiths. There are around eight million Baha’is today, who indirectly vote for the leaders of their religion every few years.

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, founded by the Persian prophet Zoroaster. It is first recorded in the 500s BCE, but many historians believe it was founded as early as the 900s BCE. Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion of the vast Achaemenid Empire of Persia, and it continued to play an important part in the region until the ascent of Islam in the 700s CE. Many credit Zoroastrianism with affecting the development of other major religions. Zoroastrianism declined through the medieval era, and today there are fewer than 200,000 Zoroastrians as of the last reputable survey. However, there are some indications that many Kurds are converting to Zoroastrianism, which they see as an ancestral religion, which may reverse the long declining population.

Shinto

Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan, which incorporates a vast array of local beliefs and customs across the nation. These traditions were collected and described as something like Shinto in the 800s CE, although the different beliefs predate this. Shinto is, for the most part, not an organized religion, and is instead the foundation of many cultural practices in Japan. Likewise, it’s difficult to produce a number of people who follow Shinto; based off of membership in Shinto organizations, only 4% of Japan follows the religion. However, up to 80% of Japanese people (even ones who proclaim no religious belief) still keep shrines and make Shinto prayers. The intimately cultural quality of Shinto means that it is limited almost entirely to Japan.
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Hinduism

Hinduism is by many accounts the oldest religion in the world, due to its origins in Vedic beliefs dating as far back as the 1500s BCE. The religion has no founder, and is a synthesis of many different Indian religious traditions. The religion waxed and waned in competition with Jainism and Buddhism throughout Indian history, before seeing a huge resurgence after the medieval period. Thereafter it became the dominant religion on the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is one of the most geographically concentrated of the major world religions—of the world’s 1.12 billion Hindus, 1.07 billion live in India and Nepal. The sheer number of practitioners, however, makes Hinduism the world’s third largest religion.
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Buddhism

Buddhism is a religious tradition founded by Gautama Buddha in the early 400s BCE, drawing from (or opposing) many of the same Vedic traditions that inform Hinduism. Buddhists engaged Hindus and Jains in religious dialogues for centuries, developing mutual competing traditions and beliefs. Buddhism flourished in India, receiving support from several powerful leaders, before declining during the medieval period. Buddhism continued to grow and develop in East Asia, having a profound impact on the cultural landscape of the entire region. Buddhism is today the fourth largest religion in the world, being the majority religion of many countries in Southeast Asia, and with nearly 200 million practitioners in China.
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If you’re interested in learning more about Buddhism on a personal level, you can also check out our list of the best books on Buddhism.

Jainism

Jainism is an ancient religious tradition from India; per its practitioners Jainism is eternal, or at least older than Hinduism, but many historical estimates will place it contemporary with Buddhism as a Classical offshoot of old Vedic tradition. Like Buddhism, Jainism received varying degrees of support or opposition from powerful sponsors, and was in constant dialogue with India’s other religious traditions. Unlike Buddhism, Jainism didn’t spread far outside of its home in India, and today the vast majority of the world’s 4-5 million Jains live in India. The Jain community enjoys a large profile, however, due to their high literacy rates and the esteem Mohandas Gandhi professed for Jain teachings and beliefs.

Sikhism

Sikhism is a young religion founded in the early 1500s CE in Punjab (Northern India) by the Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak was raised as a Hindu in the Muslim-ruled Mughal Empire, but he rejected both dominant faiths and began preaching his own religion. A community formed around him. Over the next two centuries, the Sikhs would be led by nine more gurus. The last living guru named the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, as his successor, and there has since been no single leader of the Sikh community. Despite being a religious minority, the Sikhs overthrew the Mughals and founded a major empire in Northern India in the 1800s. By different definitions Sikhism is either the fifth or eighth largest religion in the world, mostly concentrated in their home region of Punjab.
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Confucianism

Confucianism, it must be said, is not a religion in a strict sense. It is a philosophy that draws on the folk religion of China. Confucianism as a school of thought was founded by the Chinese philosopher Kng Qi (), better known as Master Kng or Kngz (), during China’s Spring and Autumn period in the 500s BCE. It quickly became the preeminent of the «Hundred Schools of Thought» and became the foundation of the later imperial government of China. The Chinese folk religion that Confucianism draws on is still concentrated in China, but its teachings are widespread throughout East Asia. Note: Kngz, or the more honorific Kng Fz () was latinized as Confucius by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s.
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Taoism

Taoism is a philosophy and religion originating in China around the same time as Confucianism, and was the primary rival to Confucian thought out of the Hundred Schools. Taoism claims descent from the (perhaps mythical) figure Loz (), which literally means «Old Master.» Taoism shares some common elements with Chinese folk religion, but the core teachings differ (unlike Confucianism). Taoism has been immensely influential on Chinese and East Asian cultures, with Taoist thought influencing everything from literature to medicine to martial arts. Due to the syncretic interactions of Taoism with Chan Buddhism and Confucianism, it is hard to find a hard number of Taoists, but Chinese religions collectively are the fifth largest religion in the world.
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The most widespread religions in the world by number of believers

There are a lot of religions in the world — more than you think. But which of the most popular beliefs are the most common in the world?

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There are only a few religions in the world with hundreds of millions and billions of followers. Here are some of the largest

The world’s major religions fall into two categories: Abrahamic, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; and Indian religions, which include Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and others. Of the world’s major religions, Christianity is the largest, with over two billion followers.

Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and has 2000 years of history. Its largest centers are the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches and Protestant Churches. Over the centuries, the number of Christians grew as the religion spread throughout the world, often through missionaries and colonizers.

The second most widespread religion is Islam, with an estimated 1.8 billion followers worldwide. It originated in Mecca (a city in modern Saudi Arabia) in the 7th century AD. and was spread by the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 AD), whom the followers of Islam consider the last prophet of God. Islam claims that the teachings of God Allah are recorded in the holy book — the Koran — which is the main text of the adherents of this religion. Most Muslims belong to one of the two main branches of Islam: Sunnis comprise approximately 80 percent of Muslims, and Shiites comprise approximately 15 percent. The rest belong to smaller denominations.

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With about 1.1 billion followers, Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world and also one of the oldest, with beliefs and practices that date back to at least 1500 BC. Hinduism is practiced mainly in India (where about 80 percent of the population identifies as Hindu), Nepal and Indonesia. Little is known about how Hinduism came into being, but its teachings deeply influence almost every aspect of the lives of believers. In recent years, certain aspects of Hinduism have become popular in the West, such as the practice of yoga, as well as the use of chakras (energy points found throughout the body) to detect and treat illnesses.

The fourth most widespread religion is Buddhism, with about 500 million followers worldwide and over 250 million in China alone. Based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, this religion was founded in India almost 2500 years ago. There are two main branches of Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. The tenets of Buddhism include a vow of non-violence and adherence to certain ethics in all aspects of life.

Other world religions

The following most widely practiced world religions by number of followers:

• Shinto (104 million followers). Officially founded in Japan in the 8th century AD, Shinto promotes the existence of many gods. It is not an organized religion in the traditional sense, but it serves as the basis for many cultural practices in Japan.
• Sikhism (25 million followers). Relatively new compared to many other religions, Sikhism was founded in India in the 1500s AD and is based on the teachings of Guru Nanak and his nine successors.
• Judaism (14 million followers). This monotheistic religion was founded in the Middle East around the 8th century BC and today includes three main branches: Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Although based on a common belief system, the branches differ in their interpretation of scripture and certain religious practices.
• Taoism (12 million followers). Originating in China over 2,000 years ago, Taoism focuses on living in harmony with the world and the cosmos. Among its first philosophers was a man named Lao Tzu, who is believed to have written the Tao Te Ching, which became the foundation of Taoism.

There are only a few religions in the world with hundreds of millions and billions of followers.

The major religions of the world fall into two categories: Abrahamic, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; and Indian religions, which include Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and others. Of the world’s major religions, Christianity is the largest, with over two billion followers.

Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and has 2000 years of history. Its largest centers are the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches and Protestant Churches. Over the centuries, the number of Christians grew as the religion spread throughout the world, often through missionaries and colonizers.

The second most widespread religion is Islam, with an estimated 1.8 billion followers worldwide. It originated in Mecca (a city in modern Saudi Arabia) in the 7th century AD. and was spread by the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 AD), whom the followers of Islam consider the last prophet of God. Islam claims that the teachings of God Allah are recorded in the holy book — the Koran — which is the main text of the adherents of this religion. Most Muslims belong to one of the two main branches of Islam: Sunnis comprise approximately 80 percent of Muslims, and Shiites comprise approximately 15 percent. The rest belong to smaller denominations.

With about 1.1 billion followers, Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world and also one of the oldest, with beliefs and practices dating back to at least 1500 BC. Hinduism is practiced mainly in India (where about 80 percent of the population identifies as Hindu), Nepal and Indonesia. Little is known about how Hinduism came into being, but its teachings deeply influence almost every aspect of the lives of believers. In recent years, certain aspects of Hinduism have become popular in the West, such as the practice of yoga, as well as the use of chakras (energy points found throughout the body) to detect and treat illnesses.

The fourth most widespread religion is Buddhism, with about 500 million followers worldwide and over 250 million in China alone. Based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, this religion was founded in India almost 2500 years ago. There are two main branches of Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. The tenets of Buddhism include a vow of non-violence and adherence to certain ethics in all aspects of life.

Other world religions

The following most widely practiced world religions by number of followers:

• Shinto (104 million followers). Officially founded in Japan in the 8th century AD, Shinto promotes the existence of many gods. It is not an organized religion in the traditional sense, but it serves as the basis for many cultural practices in Japan.
• Sikhism (25 million followers). Relatively new compared to many other religions, Sikhism was founded in India in the 1500s AD and is based on the teachings of Guru Nanak and his nine successors.
• Judaism (14 million followers). This monotheistic religion was founded in the Middle East around the 8th century BC and today includes three main branches: Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Although based on a common belief system, the branches differ in their interpretation of scripture and certain religious practices.
• Taoism (12 million followers). Originating in China over 2,000 years ago, Taoism focuses on living in harmony with the world and the cosmos. Among its first philosophers was a man named Lao Tzu, who is believed to have written the Tao Te Ching, which became the foundation of Taoism.

The most widespread religions in the world — Tyulagin

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Hello, dear readers of the Tyulyagin project! Today we will talk about the most numerous religions in the world . Regardless of which faith you belong to and whether you are a believer or not, it is necessary to give religion its due and recognize the fact that throughout human history they have had and are having a huge impact on human activity, development and culture. In this article we will talk about modern religions and which of them are the most numerous and widespread in today’s world.

Article content:

• What is religion?
• The most widespread religions in the world for 2021
• Forecasts of the future of world religions
• The most numerous religions in Russia

What is religion?

If we turn to understanding the meaning of the word religion, then any religion is usually understood as some unique and special worldview of people, which is based on faith. This belief, as a rule, is directed to divine and supernatural forces that cannot be seen with one’s own eyes or proven with the help of science. This belief is supported and based on specific laws, moral rules, traditions and rituals. For most religions, there are specially designated places where believers can unite and hold a service to their God. So, for example, for Christians it is a church, for Muslims it is a mosque, and so on. From ancient times to the present day, religion has given man answers to a variety of life questions. Religion has a huge impact on the culture, values, traditions and customs, activities and history of mankind.

In total, at the moment there are from several hundred to a couple of thousand different religions. However, only a few of them are widespread. So there are only three world religions — Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. In addition to world religions, there are national and tribal religions.

The first religions were formed in primitive societies and were tribal, the most famous of them are totheism, magic, animism, the cult of ancestors and fetishism. With the development of society, more complicated forms of religions began to appear, which turned into local and national ones, uniting entire peoples and states.

The most common religions of the world today can be divided into two main groups — the religions that originate from Abraham and the religions of the Indian subcontinent. The Abrahamic religions include such modern religions as Christianity, Islam, Judaism. The Indian group of religions includes Hinduism and Buddhism (Sikhism).

Some of the modern religions may have different directions with their own peculiarities of interpretation. For example, modern Christianity is divided into Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism.

An important feature of almost any modern religion is the denial of the existence of other religions than one’s own. In this regard, historically there has been rivalry and constant struggle between religions. A particularly sharp struggle has historically developed between Christianity and Islam. On this basis, there were many wars and conflicts, disputes continue to this day. In the process of religious rivalry, each of the parties seeks to turn the opposite into its own religion. The most historically successful religions can be judged by the prevalence of modern religions.

Despite the rivalry and struggle between religions, it is important to remember that no matter what faith a person adheres to, no one has the right to infringe on his rights. Moreover, most religions in one way or another adhere to the general principle of love for the world around us and the development of spirituality.

The most widespread religions in the world for 2021

The most widespread religion in the world at the beginning of 2021 is Christianity, it is practiced by over 2.4 billion people worldwide. However, over the past many years, Islam has been the leader in the growth of the number of followers among religions. Despite its relative youth (Islam appeared 600 years after Christianity), this religion is spreading at the fastest pace. This is largely due to the demographic difference between confessors. The number of children in Muslim countries significantly exceeds the number of newborns in peasant families over the past 100 years. At the moment, the number of Muslims worldwide has reached 1.9billion people.

The number of atheists and agnostics (unbelievers) on Earth is also significant — there are about 1.2 billion of them. Hinduism — about 1.15 billion and Buddhism — over 520 million people are also among the world’s leaders in prevalence.

A more detailed list of the most widespread religions in the world for 2021 is set out in the table below.

Religion	Believers	Share
Christianity	2.4 billion	29.81%
Islam	1.9 billion	24.60%
Atheists/Agnostics	1.2 billion	13.91%
Hinduism	1.15 billion	14.28%
Buddhism	521 million	6.47%
Chinese folk religion	394 million	4.89%
Ethnic religions	300 million	3. 37%
African traditional religions	100 million	1.24%
Sikhism	30 million	0.37%
Spiritualism	15 million	0.19%
Judaism	14.5 million	0.18%
Bahai	7.0 million	0.09%
Jainism	4.2 million	0.05%
Shinto	4.0 million	0.05%
Kaodai	4.0 million	0.05%
Zoroastrianism	2.6 million	0.03%
Tenrikyo	2.0 million	0.02%
Neopaganism	1.0 million	0.01%
Unitarian Universalism	0.8 million	0.01%
Rastafarianism	0.6 million	0.01%

In addition to the above, Taoism and Confucianism are also very common religions in the world, but there is no official data on the exact number of their followers. According to some estimates, their number is in the range of 5 to 10 million believers.

Forecasts of the future of world religions

Despite the fact that today Christianity is considered the most common religion in the world, most experts and researchers predict that Islam will be the dominant religion in the world by 2100. So, according to their estimates, by 2070 the number of Christians and Muslims on the planet will be equal. The territorial features of the spread of religions will also change dramatically, so according to modern studies, about 10% of the European population in 2050 will practice Islam. Exactly the same forecasts are valid for the US and Canada. As for Russia, today more than 20 million of the country’s population professes Islam. However, the country with the largest number of Muslims by 2100 will be India, which will overtake Indonesia.

There are a number of forecasts for the number of atheists and non-believers, experts assure that their number in the world will gradually decrease, with the exception of the USA and France. You can see the forecast for the most common religions by 2100 in the video below.

In general, Islam and Christianity will receive the greatest development and spread in the 21st century. In many ways, the growth in the prevalence of these two religions will occur at the expense of African countries. Especially here it is worth considering the forecasts for the rapid growth of the population of the African region in the current century. Judaism and Hinduism will also develop in the 21st century. As for Buddhism, the number of its adherents will practically remain the same.

The most numerous religions in Russia

As for Russia, despite the fact that according to the Constitution the country is a secular state, the majority of Russians profess Christianity, and more specifically, one of its directions is Orthodoxy. There are no exact data on the number and proportion of believers of various religions in Russia. However, in an approximate percentage, the share of Orthodox in the country, according to various estimates, ranges from 70 to 80%. The rest are Muslims about 10 — 15%, other religions, as well as atheists.

However, there are other popular data, the source of which is the All-Russian representative survey with a sample of more than 56,000 people. According to this survey the most widespread religions in Russia are :

1. Orthodox — 41%
2. Believers without religious affiliation — 25%
3. Atheists — 13%
4. Muslims — 4.7%
5. Christians — 4.1%
6. Muslims (Sunnis) — 1.7%
7. Orthodox outside the Church — 1.5%
8. Pagans — 1.2%
9. Buddhists — 0.5%
10. Old Believers — 0.5%
11. Protestants — 0.5%
12. Muslims (Shia) — 0.5%
13. Catholics — 0.5%
14. Jews — 0.5%
15. Hindus — 0.5%
16. Pentecostals — 0.5%

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And that’s all about the most widespread religions of the world today! I hope you liked the article, add the site to your bookmarks and subscribe to new articles by mail subscription.