List of religious populations

The list of religious populations article provides a comprehensive overview of the distribution and size of religious groups around the world. This article aims to present statistical information on the number of adherents to various religions, including major faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, as well as smaller religious communities. It also includes the percentage of nonreligious and atheistic populations.
The data is primarily sourced from organizations like the Pew Research Center, global surveys, census reports, and research studies, offering insights into the demographic composition of religious affiliations across different regions and countries. The list also explores trends in religious growth, decline, and shifts, reflecting the dynamic nature of religious adherence in the global context.
Pew Research Center made its "Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050" based on 2010 baseline estimates. New estimates for 2020 are still work in progress. Their methodology is published as an appendix.
Countries and territories with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country, as of 2010:
Countries and territories with a considerable proportion of Muslims from Islam by country as of 2010, excluding foreign workers in brackets:
Data is based on the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
Countries with the greatest proportion of people without religion, including agnostics and atheists, from Irreligion by country (as of 2020):
Data is ranked by mean estimate in parentheses. Irreligious includes agnostic, atheist, secular people, and those having no formal religious adherence. It does not necessarily mean that those of this group don't belong to any religion. Some religions have harmonized with local cultures and can be seen as a cultural background rather than a formal religion. Additionally, the practice of officially associating a family or household with a religion, while not formally practicing the affiliated religion, is common in many countries. Thus, over half of this group is theistic and/or influenced by religious principles, but nonreligious/non-practicing and not true atheists or agnostics. See Spiritual but not religious.
Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus from Hinduism by country as of 2010:
Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists from Buddhism by country as of 2010:
As a spiritual practice, Taoism has made fewer inroads in the West than Buddhism and Hinduism. Despite the popularity of its great classics the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching, the practice of Taoism has not been promulgated in America with much success; these religions are not ubiquitous worldwide in the way that adherents of bigger world religions are, and they remain primarily an ethnic religion. Nonetheless, Taoist ideas and symbols such as taijitu have become popular throughout the world through tai chi, qigong, and various martial arts.
The Chinese traditional religion has 184,000 believers in Latin America, 250,000 believers in Europe, and 839,000 believers in North America as of 1999.
Indigenous statistics come from the U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom Act (2009), based on the highest estimate of people identified as indigenous or followers of indigenous religions that have been well-defined. Due to the syncretic nature of these religions, the numbers may not reflect the actual number of practitioners.
Countries with the greatest proportion of Sikhs:
The Sikh homeland is the Punjab state, in India, where Sikhs make up approximately 58% of the population. This is the only place where Sikhs are in the majority. Sikhs have emigrated to countries all over the world – especially to English-speaking and East Asian nations. In doing so they have retained, to an unusually high degree, their distinctive cultural and religious identity. Sikhs are not ubiquitous worldwide in the way that adherents of larger world religions are, and they remain primarily an ethnic religion. But they can be found in many international cities and have become an especially strong religious presence in the United Kingdom and Canada. Sikhism is also the fastest growing religion in New Zealand and Australia.
Spiritist estimates come from a single source, which gives a relative indication of the size of the Spiritist communities within each country.
Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2017):
Largest Christian populations (as of 2011):
Largest Muslim populations (as of 2017):
Largest Hindu populations (as of 2020):
Largest Buddhist populations
Largest Sikh population (as of 2023)
Largest Jewish populations (as of 2017):
Largest Baháʼí populations (as of 2010) in countries with a national population ≥200,000:
As of 2005, per ARDA:
Religions: