Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents

[Kire]

Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents

Last modified 5 April 2005.

(Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number. This list is sociological/statistical in perspective.)

1. Christianity: 2 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
3. Hinduism: 900 million
4. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 850 million
5. Buddhism: 360 million
6. Chinese traditional religion: 225 million
7. primal-indigenous: 150 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 95 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 14 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 6 million
14. Jainism: 4 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 3 million
17. Tenrikyo: 2.4 million
18. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
19. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
20. Rastafarianism: 700 thousand
21. Scientology: 600 thousand
22. Zoroastrianism: 150 thousand

More: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

[sui generis]

1. very interesting that #4 is listed as a belief system

but good to see the ranking.

[Princess Turandot]

13. Adherents.com is an interesting website that tallys religion

in many different ways. You need to check the website. On the atheist/agnostic/non-religious group they say:

"This is a highly disparate group and not a single religion. Although atheists are a small subset of this grouping, this category is not synonymous with atheism. Atheists actually make up less than one-tenth of one percent of the population in many countries where large numbers claim no religious preference, such as the United States (7.5% nonreligious) and Australia (15% nonreligious)."

They also indicate that they believe most world atheists are in China and in the former Soviet block countries, altho as in all things regarding China, those numbers are admittedly estimates.

[Tux]

2. UU

Not many but hey, we're on the list. I lean Buddhist so I'm there too. lol

Seriously, has there been an increase in atheism and agnosticism?

[tubbacheez]

4. Interesting how UU ranks below relative newcomer Neo-Paganism. n/t

[Tux]

6. It is odd

But not surprising either. UUA looks down on atempts to "convert" people since many members come from a background like that. We just let people find us on thier own. Then again, having the public be aware of us may help but hard to do without appearing to convert people.

[tubbacheez]

7. At the same time Neo-Paganism is rather anti-recruitment too.

Neopaganism has been featured in far more teen-targeted TV shows and movies than UU has.





Maybe it was all the free advertising?

[Tux]

9. Or over-marketing

Paganism has a few publishers that push those books into bookstores plus shows like "Charmed" also helped.

Is there a reason you're comparing ranks between UU and paganism?

[tubbacheez]

11. Nope just conversing on a side point from your original reply. n/t

[LiberalEsto]

17. And I'm both

UU and pagan...

[tubbacheez]

22. And by some definitions...

me too.




:yourock:

[Kire]

16. so when did it stop being a Christian denomination?

1961?

[Tux]

32. Some would say before that

Since 1961 they become a place for non-Christians to gather and protect them. THe idea then became all can be saved by one god who all religions (one way or another) worshipped.

[Dervill Crow]

28. Maybe people are more likely to admit it now.

My dad was agnostic. When I was a kid and he showed me his dog tags, I asked him what the RC stood for, and he said it was Roman Catholic. I asked him if we were Catholic (I'd never been in a church), and he said that was what his mom was, so it was the first thing he thought of when he filled out his paperwork for the army.

[demnan]

3. 850 million atheists?

Must be outside this country for sure.

[flyingfysh]

5. they must be counting Europe

Religion is much less pervasive in Europe, I'm sure that affects the numbers.

What would be interesting would be to see this same report broken down into US vs Europe vs everybody else.

[sundancekid]

12. here's a bit of it, digging further into the same source

this link also gives some older data (1990) on breakdowns within the U.S. states by "adherence" and by "member"

http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_christian.html

Top 10 Largest National Christian Populations
Rank Nation Number Percent
1 USA 224,457,000 85%
2 Brazil 139,000,000 93%
3 Mexico 86,120,000 99%
4 Russia 80,000,000 60%
5 China 70,000,000 5.7%
6 Germany 67,000,000 83%
7 Philippines 63,470,000 93%
8 United Kingdom 51,060,000 88%
9 Italy 47,690,000 90%
10 France 44,150,000 98%
11 Nigeria 38,180,000 45%

Source for these Christian statistics: Ash, Russell. The Top 10 of Everything, DK Publishing, Inc.: New York (1997), pg. 160-161; December Advance Newsletter, 1996, Kainos Press; Adherents.com.

[kwassa]

10. It didn't say 850 million atheists!!!!!!!!

it said:

"4. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 850 million"

This group might have a small contingent of atheists!

[BlueEyedSon]

8. Goes to show how easy it is to end up in the "wrong religion".

You only can be "saved" (i.e. believe correctly) by an accident of birth or a lucky guess in adulthood.

[GOPBasher]

27. That's a good criticism.

You put that very well. I'm a Christian, but I don't believe in the whole, "faith in Jesus in the only way" concept. I believe in being sorry for your sins, whatever religion you are.

[Igel]

14. Juche's one I didn't expect to be there.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/juche.htm

"The regime emphasizes Juche , a national ideology of self-reliance. The regime justifies its dictatorship with arguments derived from concepts of collective consciousness and the superiority of the collective over the individual, appeals to nationalism, and citations of "the juche idea." The authorities emphasize that the core concept of juche is "the ability to act independently without regard to outside interference." Originally described as "a creative application of Marxism-Leninism" in the national context, juche is a malleable philosophy reinterpreted from time to time by the regime as its ideological needs change and used by the regime as a "spiritual" underpinning for its rule."

Talk about cult of personality.

[progressoid]

15. Woo hoo - Go Zoroastrianism!

Gotta give it up for Zoroaster!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

33. Hu Mata Hu Khata Hu Varsta A Hura

True Thoughts, True Words, True Deeds-
Lord of Light and Wisdom!

Sava!

[YankeyMCC]

18. Nonreligious/Secular

Is the largest miniorty group (based on these religious/nonreligious groupings) in the US. More than Judism or other religions. Interesting.

But I don't understand this list exactly because it lists nonreligious/secular then lists atheists, humanists, agnostics separately. I could see listing agnostics separately but don't understand the others.

On Edit: After looking more closely I suppose they just used whatever labels people gave them.

[H2O Man]

19. "In matters of conscience,

the law of the majority has no place. It is slavery to be amenable to the majority no matter what its decisions are." -- Gandhi

You have started an interesting and important thread. While it is nice that it is on the religion & theology forum, its value goes far beyond this somewhat limited group of participants. Thank you for posting this for us.

[Kire]

26. hey, thanks

not sure where else on DU it could go, if in GD, then it might drop like a pancake in a day

[GOPBasher]

20. This is an interesting post, Kire. Thanks! n/t

[Kire]

25. yw n/t

[GOPBasher]

21. I wonder if they separated Catholicism and Protestantism.

I wonder what the numbers would be. Anyone know? Plus, it's possible that if those two were separated, Islam would then become the world's biggest.

[kwassa]

23. I also don't believe 800,000 Unitarian-Universalists

My parents are dedicated life-long UU members, and my dad was talking about there only being about 200,0000 UUs. He isn't usually wrong on numbers.

Googling, I came up with this:
"The church has about 151,000 members (1997)."

http://www.answers.com/topic/unitarian-universalist-association

[Kire]

24. I think that's in North America.

I don't really know where the other ones are, but I did some googling on this (I was raised UU) and wikipedia and few others put the North American UU's at around 200 or 250 thousand. More research on this is needed.

[Dervill Crow]

29. When I wanted to convert to Judaism, a rabbi pointed me toward UU.

He told me that UU was a good place for someone who doesn't quite fit into other organized religions, so there may be a lot of people like I was at that time (spiritual but not hooked up with a formal religion).

I drove a couple of rabbis a little crazy because they didn't want me to convert because my husband isn't Jewish and wasn't supportive. I kept badgering them because the usual procedure is that they turn away converts three times to see if they are sincere, and I just didn't get it that no means no!

[megatherium]

31. I think there are UUs in Europe.

I recall the origins of Unitarianism were in Europe, in fact. According to a video I saw for new members at a UU church I attended a few years ago. (I'm Episcopalian these days.)

[kwassa]

34. I think UU as we know it is an American phenomenon

even though it originally was developed in Transylvania, as an anti-Trinitarian understanding of God.

[megatherium]

30. This web site has an interesting discussion concerning Scientology numbers

According to them, the COS claims 8 million members, but it's more like 750,000 -- but even this number counts people who have at one time considered themselves to be Scientologists; they think the true number of currently active participants is probably 100,000.

Of course, if this same standard were applied to Christianity, the number there wouldn't be 2 billion, it would be much less. (Although, I read today that most people in Spain don't go to Mass regularly or profess a real belief in Catholicism; but they still observe such rituals as First Communion. How to count these people, I dunno.)