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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 Faith & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 earth population of half-dozen.9 billion.

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The demographic report – based on analysis of more than ii,500 censuses, surveys and population registers – finds ii.2 billion Christians (32% of the world'south population), one.6 billion Muslims (23%), 1 billion Hindus (15%), about 500 one thousand thousand Buddhists (seven%) and xiv 1000000 Jews (0.2%) effectually the world as of 2010. In addition, more than 400 one thousand thousand people (6%) do 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 organized religion, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca and Zoroastrianism, to mention just a few.1

At the same time, the new study past the Pew Forum besides finds that roughly one-in-half-dozen people effectually the globe (one.1 billion, or 16%) have no religious affiliation. This makes the unaffiliated the third-largest religious grouping worldwide, backside Christians and Muslims, and about equal in size to the globe's Catholic population. Surveys betoken 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 religion. (Encounter 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 bulk of Hindus (99%), Buddhists (99%), adherents of folk or traditional religions (90%) and members of other world religions (89%).

Iii-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76%) besides live in the massive and populous Asia- Pacific region. Indeed, the number of religiously unaffiliated people in Communist china alone (near 700 1000000) is more than twice the total population of the United States.

The Asia-Pacific region also is dwelling to about of the world'south Muslims (62%). Almost 20% of Muslims live in the Middle Eastward and North Africa, and nigh xvi% reside in sub-Saharan Africa.

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

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

Living as Majorities and Minorities

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Most 3-quarters (73%) of the world's people alive 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 bulk. Fully 97% of all Hindus live in the globe's iii Hindu-bulk countries (India, Mauritius and Nepal), and nearly 9-in-ten Christians (87%) are found in the world's 157 Christian-majority countries. (To see the religious composition of each country, see Religious Limerick by Country table.)

Though by smaller margins, almost Muslims (73%) and religiously unaffiliated people (71%) also alive in countries in which they are the predominant religious group. Muslims are a bulk in 49 countries, including 19 of the 20 countries in the Middle E and North Africa. The religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population in vi countries, of which China is by far the largest. (The others are the Czech republic, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan and North korea.)

Nearly 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 equally religious minorities. Only three-in-ten (28%) alive in the 7 countries where Buddhists are in the majority: Kingdom of bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

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Israel is the only country with a Jewish majority. There are no countries where members of other religions (such every bit Baha'is, Jains, Shintoists, Sikhs, Taoists, followers of Tenrikyo, Wiccans and Zoroastrians) make upwards a bulk of the population. In that location are also no countries where people who place with folk or traditional religions clearly form a majority.2

Young and Old

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

The median historic period of two major groups – Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) – is younger than the median historic period of the globe'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 take the highest median historic period (36), more than a dozen years older than the youngest grouping, Muslims.

Most the Study

These are amongst the primal 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-past-country analysis of information from more than than 2,500 national censuses, large-calibration surveys and official population registers that were collected, evaluated and standardized by the Pew Forum'southward demographers and other inquiry staff.4 Many countries have recently conducted a national census or are in the midst of doing and so. Therefore, new data are likely to emerge over the next few years. Yet, a datacollection cut-off had to exist made at some signal; this study is based on information available every bit of early 2012.5

For estimates of the religious limerick of individual countries, see Religious Limerick by Country tabular array. 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, encounter Appendix B.

To see each country'due south 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.pewforum.org/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 apply of population growth projections to update estimates in countries with older primary sources. (For more details, meet 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 equally belonging to various religious groups. Information technology does not attempt to measure the degree to which members of these groups actively do 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 earth religions – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews – likewise as people associated with three other religious categories that may be less familiar:

Folk or Traditional Religions

Folk religions are closely tied to a item people, ethnicity or tribe. In some cases, elements of other world religions are blended with local behavior 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 practice not identify with whatever item religion in surveys. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold religious or spiritual behavior. For example, diverse surveys take found that belief in God or a higher power is shared by seven% of unaffiliated Chinese adults, xxx% of unaffiliated French adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.Due south. adults.six

Other Religions

The "other religions" category is diverse and comprises groups not classified elsewhere. This category includes followers of religions that ofttimes are not measured separately in censuses and surveys: the Baha'i faith, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, Zoroastrianism and many other religions. Considering of the lack of data on these faiths in many countries, the Pew Forum has not attempted to estimate the size of private religions inside this category, though some crude estimates are bachelor from other sources. (Run across Spotlight on Other Religions.)

Roadmap to the Report

These and other findings are discussed in more than detail in the remainder of this study, 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 study divides the world into six major regions: Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Due north Africa, North America and sub-Saharan Africa. For a listing of countries in each region, see the Methodology.

Footnotes:

1 Although some faiths in the "other religions" category have millions of adherents around the globe, 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 Organized religion Database. For more information, see Spotlight on Other Religions. (return to text)

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

iii The median in a population is the midpoint when the entire population is ordered past some feature, such as age or income. If everyone alive in 2010 lined upwards from youngest to oldest, the person in the eye (the median) would exist 28 years old. (render to text)

iv A population register is a listing of all permanent residents of a country. Run into the United Nations Statistics Sectionalization'southward clarification of population registers (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/popreg/popregmethods.htm). (return to text)

5 For example, in Dec 2012, just before the release of this written 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 approximate fabricated 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 past the U.One thousand.'southward Office for National Statistics.(render to text)

vi For more than information on the beliefs and practices of religiously unaffiliated adults in the United States, see the Pew Forum'southward October 2012 study "'Nones' on the Rising." The Pew Forum's U.S. surveys typically inquire about conventionalities in "God or a universal spirit." French results are based on a Pew Forum analysis of 2008 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data. The ISSP survey asks most belief in God or a "higher ability of some kind." Chinese results are based on a Pew Forum assay of the 2007 Spiritual Life Study of Chinese Residents, conducted by the Chinese polling firm Horizon. In Prc, the conventionalities in God statistic measures belief in God, gods, spirits, ghosts or Buddha. (return to text)