Buddhism by country - wikipedia Buddhism by country Percentage of Buddhists by country, according to the Pew Research Center. Buddhism is a religion practiced by an estimated 488 million in the world, 495 million, or 535 million people as of the 2010s, representing 9 % to 10 % of the world 's total population. China is the country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 244 million or 18.2 % of its total population. They are mostly followers of Chinese schools of Mahayana, making this the largest body of Buddhist traditions. Mahayana, also practiced in broader East Asia, is followed by over half of world Buddhists. The second largest body of Buddhist schools is Theravada, mostly followed in Southeast Asia. The third and smallest body of schools, Vajrayana, is followed mostly in Tibet, the Himalayan region, Mongolia and parts of Russia, but has been disseminated throughout the world. According to a demographic analysis reported by Peter Harvey ( 2013 ) : Eastern Buddhism ( Mahayana ) has 360 million adherents ; Southern Buddhism ( Theravada ) has 150 million adherents ; and Northern Buddhism ( Vajrayana ) has 18.2 million adherents. Seven million additional Buddhists are found outside Asia. Contents 1 List of countries with largest Buddhist proportion 2 By country 3 By region 4 Ten countries with the largest Buddhist populations 5 See also 6 External links 7 References List of countries with largest Buddhist proportion There are over 10 countries with the highest Buddhist percentage : Buddhism by percentange as of 2010 Country Estimated Buddhist population % of total Buddhist in country Cambodia 13,701,660 96.90 % Thailand 64,419,840 93.20 % Myanmar 48,415,960 87.90 % Bhutan 563,000 74.70 % Sri Lanka 14,222,844 70.2 % Laos 4,092,000 66.00 % Mongolia 1,520,760 55.1 % Japan 45,820,000 36.2 % Taiwan 8,000,000 35 % Singapore 1,725,510 33.90 % South Korea 11,050,000 22 % Malaysia 5,620,483 19.8 % China 244,130,000 18.2 % Vietnam 14,380,000 16.4 % By country Population country Country / Territory Population ( 2013 ) % Buddhist : 1. Pew, 2. ARDA. Number of Buddhists Afghanistan 24,108,077 < 0.1 % Algeria 38,087,812 < 0.1 % American Samoa 26,719 0.3 % Angola 25,789,024 < 0.1 % Argentina 42,610,981 < 0.1 % Aruba 109,153 0.1 % Australia 22,262,501 2.7 % 528,977 Austria 8,629,519 0.2 % Bahamas 319,031 < 0.1 % Bahrain 1,281,332 2.5 % Bangladesh 159,654,860 0.5 % Barbados 288,725 < 0.1 % Belarus 9,625,888 < 0.1 % Belgium 10,444,268 0.2 % Belize 324,528 0.5 % Bermuda 69,467 0.5 % Bhutan 725,296 74.7 % 563,000 Bolivia 10,461,053 < 0.1 % Botswana 2,127,825 < 0.1 % Brazil 201,009,622 0.1 % Brunei 415,717 8.6 % Bulgaria 6,981,642 < 0.1 % Burkina Faso 17,812,961 < 0.1 % Burma ( Myanmar ) 55,167,330 87.9 % 48,415,960 Cambodia 15,205,539 96.9 % 13,701,660 Cameroon 20,549,221 < 0.1 % Canada 34,568,211 0.8 % Chad 11,193,452 < 0.1 % Chile 17,216,945 < 0.1 % China 1,349,585,838 18.2 % 244,130,000 Christmas Island 1,513 < 0.1 % Colombia 45,745,783 < 0.1 % Democratic Republic of the Congo 75,507,308 < 0.1 % Republic of the Congo 4,492,689 < 0.1 % Costa Rica 4,695,942 < 0.1 % Côte d'Ivoire 22,400,835 < 0.1 % Croatia 4,475,611 < 0.1 % Cuba 11,394,043 < 0.1 % Curaçao 146,836 Cyprus 1,155,403 0.2 % Czech Republic 10,162,921 < 0.1 % Denmark 5,556,452 0.2 % Dominica 73,286 0.1 % Dominican Republic 10,219,630 < 0.1 % East Timor 1,172,390 Ecuador 15,439,429 < 0.1 % Egypt 85,294,388 < 0.1 % El Salvador 6,108,590 < 0.1 % Estonia 1,266,375 < 0.1 % Ethiopia 93,877,025 < 0.1 % Falkland Islands 3,140 < 0.1 % Federated States of Micronesia 106,104 0.4 % Fiji 896,758 < 0.1 % Finland 5,266,114 < 0.1 % France 65,951,611 0.5 % French Guiana 239,450 < 0.1 % French Polynesia 277,293 < 0.1 % Germany 81,147,265 0.3 % Ghana 22,931,299 < 0.1 % Greece 10,772,967 < 0.1 % Guam 160,378 1.1 % Guatemala 14,373,472 < 0.1 % Guinea 11,176,026 < 0.1 % Guyana 739,903 < 0.1 % Haiti 9,893,934 < 0.1 % Honduras 8,448,465 0.1 % Hong Kong 7,182,724 13.2 % Hungary 9,939,470 < 0.1 % Iceland 315,281 0.4 % India 1,326,987,437 0.8 % 9,250,000 Indonesia 251,160,124 Iran 79,853,900 < 0.1 % Iraq 31,858,481 < 0.1 % Ireland 4,775,982 Israel 7,707,042 0.2 % Italy 61,482,297 0.2 % Jamaica 2,909,714 < 0.1 % Japan 127,253,075 36.2 % 45,820,000 Jordan 6,482,081 0.4 % Kazakhstan 17,736,896 0.2 % Kenya 44,037,656 < 0.1 % North Korea 24,720,407 1.5 % South Korea 48,955,203 22.9 % 11,050,000 Kuwait 2,695,316 2.8 % Kyrgyzstan 5,548,042 < 0.1 % Laos 6,695,166 66.1 % 4,092,000 Latvia 2,178,443 < 0.1 % Lebanon 4,131,583 0.2 % Lesotho 1,936,181 < 0.1 % Liberia 3,989,703 < 0.1 % Libya 6,002,347 0.3 % Liechtenstein 37,009 < 0.1 % Lithuania 3,515,858 < 0.1 % Luxembourg 514,862 < 0.1 % Macau 583,003 17.3 % Macedonia 2,087,171 < 0.1 % Madagascar 22,599,098 < 0.1 % Malawi 16,777,547 < 0.1 % Malaysia 31,112,021 19.8 % 5,620,483 Maldives 393,988 0.6 % Mali 15,968,882 < 0.1 % Malta 411,277 < 0.1 % Martinique 403,795 < 0.1 % Mauritius 1,322,238 < 0.1 % Mexico 116,220,947 < 0.1 % Mongolia 3,226,516 55.1 % 1,520,760 Montenegro 653,474 < 0.1 % Morocco 32,649,130 < 0.1 % Mozambique 24,096,669 < 0.1 % Namibia 2,182,852 < 0.1 % Nauru 9,434 1.1 % Nepal 30,430,267 10.3 % Netherlands 16,805,037 0.2 % New Caledonia 264,022 0.6 % New Zealand 4,365,113 1.6 % Nicaragua 5,788,531 < 0.1 % Nigeria 174,507,539 < 0.1 % Northern Mariana Islands 51,170 10.6 % Norway 4,722,701 0.6 % Oman 3,154,134 0.8 % Pakistan 193,238,868 < 0.1 % Palau 21,108 0.8 % Palestine 4,293,313 < 0.1 % Panama 3,559,408 0.2 % Papua New Guinea 6,431,902 < 0.1 % Paraguay 6,623,252 < 0.1 % Peru 29,849,303 0.2 % Philippines 98,215,000 < 0.1 % 46,558 Poland 38,383,809 < 0.1 % Portugal 10,799,270 0.6 % Puerto Rico 3,674,209 0.3 % Qatar 2,042,444 3.1 % Réunion 839,500 0.2 % Romania 21,790,479 < 0.1 % Russia 142,500,482 0.1 % Saudi Arabia 26,939,583 Senegal 12,521,851 0.3 % Serbia 10,150,265 < 0.1 % Seychelles 90,846 < 0.1 % Sierra Leone 5,612,685 Singapore 5,460,302 33.9 % Slovakia 5,488,339 < 0.1 % Slovenia 1,992,690 < 0.1 % Solomon Islands 597,248 0.3 % South Africa 48,601,098 0.2 % Spain 47,370,542 < 0.1 % Sri Lanka 21,675,648 69.3 % 14,222,844 Sudan 34,847,910 < 0.1 % Suriname 566,846 0.6 % Swaziland 1,403,362 < 0.1 % Sweden 9,119,423 0.4 % Switzerland 7,996,026 0.4 % Taiwan 23,299,716 21.3 % Tajikistan 7,910,041 < 0.1 % Tanzania 48,261,942 < 0.1 % Thailand 67,448,120 93.2 % 64,420,000 Togo 7,154,237 < 0.1 % Tonga 106,322 Tunisia 10,835,873 < 0.1 % Trinidad and Tobago 1,225,225 0.3 % Turkey 80,694,485 < 0.1 % Turkmenistan 5,113,040 < 0.1 % Tuvalu 10,698 < 0.1 % Uganda 34,758,809 < 0.1 % Ukraine 44,573,205 < 0.1 % United Arab Emirates 5,473,972 2 % United Kingdom 63,395,574 0.4 % United States 316,668,567 1.2 % 3,800,023 Uruguay 3,324,460 < 0.1 % US Virgin Islands 104,737 < 0.1 % Uzbekistan 28,661,637 < 0.1 % Vanuatu 261,565 < 0.1 % Venezuela 28,459,085 < 0.1 % Vietnam 92,477,857 16.4 % 14,380,000 Yemen 25,408,288 < 0.1 % Zambia 14,222,233 < 0.1 % Zimbabwe 13,182,908 < 0.1 % TOTAL 7,095,217,980 Pew : 7.1 % Pew : 487,540,000 By region Buddhism by region in 2010 Region Estimated total population Estimated Buddhist population % Asia - Pacific 4,054,990,000 481,290,000 11.9 % North America 344,530,000 3,860,000 1.1 % Europe 742,550,000 1,330,000 0.2 % Middle East - North Africa 341,020,000 500,000 0.1 % Latin America - Caribbean 590,080,000 410,000 < 0.1 % Total 6,895,890,000 487,540,000 7.1 % Ten countries with the largest Buddhist populations Countries with the largest Buddhist populations as of 2010 Country Estimated Buddhist population % of the total population of the country % of world Buddhist population China 244,130,000 18.2 % 46.4 % Thailand 64,420,000 93.2 % 12.2 % Japan 45,820,000 36.2 % 9.4 % Myanmar 38,410,000 87.90 % 7.3 % Sri Lanka 14,450,000 69.3 % 2.8 % Vietnam 14,380,000 16.4 % 2.7 % Cambodia 13,690,000 96.9 % 2.9 % South Korea 11,050,000 22.9 % 2.1 % India 9,250,000 0.8 % 1.8 % Malaysia 5,010,000 19.8 % 1 % Subtotal for the ten countries 499,465,520 18.1 % 94.9 % Subtotal for the rest of the world 26,920,000 0.7 % 5.1 % World total 526,373,000 7.3 % 100 % note : Exact number of followers when calculating Buddhists varies because Buddhism is often mixed with the native East Asian religions in their respective countries for example in Japan the number of Buddhists when calculating including the Shintoists would ramp the percentage of Buddhists in Japan from 67 % to > 98 %. See also Neo-Confucianism East Asian Buddhism Buddhism and Eastern religions Other religions : Hinduism by country Islam by country Judaism by country Christianity by country Sikhism by country Bahá'í statistics General : List of religious populations Religions by country External links The US State Department 's International Religious Freedom Report 2010 CIA FactBook adherents.com References ^ Jump up to : Pew Research Center, Global Religious Landscape : Buddhists. Jump up ^ Johnson, Todd M. ; Grim, Brian J. ( 2013 ). The World 's Religions in Figures : An Introduction to International Religious Demography ( PDF ). Hoboken, NJ : Wiley - Blackwell. pp. 34 -- 37. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013. ^ Jump up to : Harvey, Peter ( 2013 ). An Introduction to Buddhism : Teachings, History and Practices ( 2nd ed. ). Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780521676748. Retrieved 2 September 2013. Jump up ^ Pew Research Center 's Forum on Religion & Public Life ( December 2012 ), The Global Religious Landscape : A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World 's Major Religious Groups as of 2010 ( PDF ), Pew Research Center, retrieved 9 October 2013 Jump up ^ Department of Census and Statistics, The Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka - 2011 Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ ( 2 ) Jump up ^ CIA 's The World Factbook : Populations as of July 2013 Jump up ^ http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/philippines/religious_demography#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010 Jump up ^ https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/2015%20PSY%20PDF.pdf Jump up ^ `` Buddhism in Philippines, Guide to Philippines Buddhism, Introduction to Philippines Buddhism, Philippines Buddhism Travel ''. Jump up ^ http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/philippines/religious_demography#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010 Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 9 June 2015. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 06. 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Question: where do most followers of buddhism live today
Answer: China