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Major religious groupsworldwide, by percentage,according to The World Factbook(2012)[1]

Christians (28%)

Muslims (22%)

Hindus (15%)

Buddhists (8.5%)

Non-religious (12%)

Other (14.5%)

An 1821 map of the world, where "Christians,Mahometans, and Pagans" correspond to levels ofcivilization (The map makes no distinction betweenBuddhism and Hinduism).

Major religious groupsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classifiedinto a small number of major groups, although this is by no means auniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal ofrecognizing the relative levels of civility in societies.[2]

Contents1 History of religious categories2 Western classification3 Religious demographics

3.1 Largest religions3.2 Medium-sized religions

4 By region5 Trends in adherence

5.1 World Christian Encyclopedia5.2 World Religion Database

6 Maps of self-reported adherence7 See also8 Notes9 References10 External links

History of religious categoriesIn world cultures, there have traditionally been manydifferent groupings of religious belief. In Indian culture,different religious philosophies were traditionallyrespected as academic differences in pursuit of the sametruth. In Islam, the Quran mentions three differentcategories: Muslims, the People of the Book, and idolworshipers. Initially, Christians had a simple dichotomyof world beliefs: Christian civility versus foreign heresyor barbarity. In the 18th century, "heresy" was clarifiedto mean Judaism and Islam;[citation needed] along withpaganism, this created a fourfold classification whichspawned such works as John Toland's Nazarenus, orJewish, Gentile, and Mahometan Christianity, whichrepresented the three Abrahamic religions as different"nations" or sects within religion itself, the "truemonotheism."

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An 1883 map of the world divided into colorsrepresenting "Christians, Buddhists, Hindus,Mohammedans and Pagans".

Daniel Defoe described the original definition as follows: "Religion is properly the Worship given to God, but'tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and falseDeities." At the turn of the 19th century, in between1780 and 1810, the language dramatically changed:instead of "religion" being synonymous with spirituality,authors began using the plural, "religions", to refer toboth Christianity and other forms of worship. Therefore,Hannah Adams's early encyclopedia, for example, had itsname changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of theVarious Sects... to A Dictionary of All Religions andReligious Denominations.[3]

In 1838, the four-way division of Christianity, Judaism,Mahommedanism (archaic terminology for Islam) andPaganism was multiplied considerably by JosiahConder's Analytical and Comparative View of AllReligions Now Extant among Mankind. Conder's workstill adheres to the four-way classification, but in his eyefor detail he puts together much historical work to createsomething resembling our modern Western image: he includes Druze, Yezidis, Mandeans, and Elamites undera list of possibly monotheistic groups, and under the final category, of "polytheism and pantheism", he listsZoroastrianism, "Vedas, Puranas, Tantras, Reformed sects" of India as well as "Brahminical idolatry",Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Lamaism, "religion of China and Japan", and "illiterate superstitions".[4]

The modern meaning of the phrase "world religion", putting non-Christians at the same, living level asChristians, began with the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. The Parliament spurred thecreation of a dozen privately funded lectures with the intent of informing people of the diversity of religiousexperience: these lectures funded researchers such as William James, D. T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts, whogreatly influenced the public conception of world religions.[5]

In the latter half of the 20th century, the category of "world religion" fell into serious question, especially fordrawing parallels between vastly different cultures, and thereby creating an arbitrary separation between thereligious and the secular.[6] Even history professors have now taken note of these complications and adviseagainst teaching "world religions" in schools.[7] Others see the shaping of religions in the context of thenation-state as the "invention of traditions".

Western classificationFurther information: Comparative religion and Sociological classifications of religious movements

Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin and mutualinfluence. Abrahamic religions originate in the Middle East, Indian religions in the Indian subcontinent andEast Asian religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are Afro-American religion,which have their origins in Central and West Africa.

Abrahamic religions are the largest group, and these consist mainly of Christianity, Islam, Judaism andthe Bahá'í Faith. They are named for the patriarch Abraham, and are unified by the practice ofmonotheism. Today, around 3.4 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions and are spread

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widely around the world apart from the regions around East and Southeast Asia. Several Abrahamicorganizations are vigorous proselytizers.[8]

Indian religions originated in Greater India and tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharmaand karma. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Southeast Asia, aswell as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism andSikhism.East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (inChinese) or Dō (in Japanese or Korean), namely Taoism and Confucianism, both of which are assertedby some scholars to be non-religious in nature.African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, imported as a result of the Atlantic slave trade ofthe 16th to 18th centuries, building on traditional religions of Central and West Africa.Indigenous ethnic religions, formerly found on every continent, now marginalized by the majororganized faiths, but persisting as undercurrents of folk religion. Includes traditional African religions,Asian Shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions,Chinese folk religion, and postwar Shinto. Under more traditional listings, this has been referred to as"paganism" along with historical polytheism.Iranian religions (not listed below due to overlaps) originated in Iran and include Zoroastrianism,Yazdânism, Ahl-e Haqq and historical traditions of Gnosticism (Mandaeism, Manichaeism). It hassignificant overlaps with Abrahamic traditions, e.g. in Sufism and in recent movements such as Bábismand the Bahá'í Faith.New religious movement is the term applied to any religious faith which has emerged since the 19thcentury, often syncretizing, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions: Hindu reformmovements, Eckankar, Ayyavazhi, Pentecostalism, polytheistic reconstructionism, and so forth.

Religious demographicsFurther information: List of religious populationsMain category: Religious demographics

One way to define a major religion is by the number of current adherents. The population numbers by religionare computed by a combination of census reports and population surveys (in countries where religion data isnot collected in census, for example the United States or France), but results can vary widely depending on theway questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizationsconducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count.

There is no consensus among researchers as to the best methodology for determining the religiosity profile ofthe world's population. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved:

Whether to count "historically predominant religious culture[s]"[9]

Whether to count only those who actively "practice" a particular religion[10]

Whether to count based on a concept of "adherence"[11]

Whether to count only those who expressly self-identify with a particular denomination[12]

Whether to count only adults, or to include children as well.Whether to rely only on official government-provided statistics[13]

Whether to use multiple sources and ranges or single "best source(s)"

Largest religions

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The table below lists religions classified by philosophy; however, religious philosophy is not always thedetermining factor in local practice. Please note that this table includes heterodox movements as adherents totheir larger philosophical category, although this may be disputed by others within that category. For exampleChristianity with counted with over 2 billion followers overlap those are culturally Christian as well asindigenous people combining Shamanism with either Christianity or Islam.

The population numbers below are computed by a combination of census reports, random surveys (incountries where religion data is not collected in census, for example the United States or France), and self-reported attendance numbers, but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, thedefinitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal orunorganized religions are especially difficult to count. Some organizations may wildly inflate their numbers.

ReligionNumber offollowers

(in millions)Culturaltradition Founded References

Christianity 1,800–2,200 Abrahamicreligions Levant region [14]

Islam 1,570 Abrahamicreligions

ArabianPeninsula

[15][16]

Hinduism 1,083–1,101 Dharmic religions India [17]

Buddhism 600–1,500 Dharmic religions Nepal [18][19][20][21]

Folk religions 250 Folk religions Worldwide [nb 1]

Chinese folk religions(including Taoism andConfucianism)

460 Chinese religions China [nb 1]

Falun Gong 90-100 Chinese religions ChinaSikhi 30-35 Indian religions India [19][22]

Medium-sized religions

The following are medium-sized world religions:

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ReligionNumber offollowers

(in millions)Culturaltradition Founded References

Jaina Dharma 12-25 Dharmic religions India, 4th centuryBC

[nb 2][23]

Judaism 14-35 Abrahamic religions Levant regionBahá'í Faith 7.5 Iranian religions Iran, 19th century [24][25][nb 3]

Cao Đài 5-9 Vietnamese religions Vietnam, 20thcentury

[26]

Hoa Hao 2-4 Vietnamese religions Vietnam, 20thcentury

Cheondoism 12.5 Korean religions Korea, 19th century [27]

Korean Shamanism 5-15 Korean religions Korea [28]

Tenrikyo 5 Japanese religions Japan, 19th century [29]

Church of WorldMessianity 5 Japanese religions Japan, 20th century [30]

Seicho-no-le 5 Japanese religions Japan, 20th century [29]

By regionFurther information: Religions by country

Religion by regionReligion in AfricaReligion in AntarcticaReligion in Asia

Religion in the Middle EastMuslim world (SW Asia and N Africa)

Religion in EuropeReligion in the European Union

Religion in North AmericaReligion in OceaniaReligion in South America

Trends in adherenceFurther information: Claims to be the fastest-growing religion

Since the late 19th century, the demographics of religion have changed a great deal. On the one hand, sincethe 19th century, large areas of Sub-Saharan Africa have been converted to Christianity, and this area of theworld has the highest population growth rate. On the other hand, some countries with a historically largeChristian population have experienced a significant decline in the numbers of professed active Christians: seedemographics of atheism. Symptoms of the decline in active participation in Christian religious life includedeclining recruitment for the priesthood and monastic life, as well as diminishing attendance at church. In the

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realm of Western culture, there has been an increase in the number of people who identify themselves assecular humanists. In many countries, such as the People's Republic of China, communist governments havediscouraged religion, making it difficult to count the actual number of believers. However, after the collapse ofcommunism in numerous countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, religious life has beenexperiencing resurgence there, both in the form of traditional Eastern Christianity and particularly in the formsof Neopaganism and East Asian religions.[citation needed] Studies conducted by the Pew Research Center havefound that, generally, poorer nations had a larger proportion of citizens who found religion to be veryimportant than richer nations, with the exceptions of the United States[10] and Kuwait.[31]

World Christian Encyclopedia

Following is some available data based on the work of the World Christian Encyclopedia:[32]

Trends in annual growth of adherence1970–1985[33] 1990–2000[34][35] 2000–2005[36]

3.65%: Bahá'í Faith 2.65%: Zoroastrianism 1.84%: Islam2.74%: Islam 2.28%: Bahá'í Faith 1.70%: Bahá'í Faith2.34%: Hinduism 2.13%: Islam 1.62%: Sikhism1.67%: Buddhism 1.87%: Sikhism 1.57%: Hinduism1.64%: Christianity 1.69%: Hinduism 1.32%: Christianity1.09%: Judaism 1.36%: Christianity

1.09%: BuddhismThe annual growth in the worldpopulation over the same periodis 1.41%.

World Religion Database

According to World Religion Database (http://www.worldreligiondatabase.org) we have the following from1970–2010:

World Religion Database, 1970–2010[37]

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Map showing self-reportedreligiosity by country. Based on a2006–2008 worldwide survey byGallup.

World map showing thepercentages of people who regardreligion as "non-important"according to a 2002 Pew survey

World Religion Database, 1970–2010[37]

Religion1970

population(millions)

2010population(millions)

% change since1970/year (40 yrs)

unaffiliated (inc. atheists, agnostics,religious but not affiliated) 708.1 813.6 0.37%

Christians 1229 2260.4 2.10%Muslims 577.2 1553.8 4.23%Hindus 463.2 948.6 2.62%Buddhists 235.1 494.9 2.76%Chinese Folk Religionists 228.8 436.3 2.27%Ethnoreligiounists 168.9 242.5 1.09%New religionists 39.4 63 1.50%Sikhs 10.7 23.9 3.08%Jews 15.0 14.8 -0.03Spiritists 4.7 13.7 4.79%Daoists 1.7 8.4 9.85%Bahá'ís 2.7 7.3 4.26%Confucians 4.8 6.4 0.83%Jains 2.6 5.3 2.60%Shintoists 4.2 2.8 -0.83%Zoroastrians 0.1 0.2 2.50%World total 3696.2 6895.9 2.16%

Maps of self-reported adherence

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Religions of the world, mapped bydistribution.

Predominant religions of the world,mapped by state

Map showing the prevalence of"Abrahamic religion" (purple), and"Indian religion" (yellow) religionsin each country.

Map showing the relativeproportion of Christianity (red) andIslam (green) in each country as of2006 and excludes South Sudan

See alsoSee also category: Religion by country

IrreligionReligious textReligious conversionDharmaNuminous

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Notes1. ^ a b Approximately 454 in China and 6 million worldwide.2. ^ Figures for the population of Jains differ from just over six million to twelve million due to difficulties of Jain

identity, with Jains in some areas counted as a Hindu sect. Many Jains do not return Jainism as their religion oncensus forms for various reasons such as certain Jain castes considering themselves both Hindu and Jain. Followinga major advertising campaign urging Jains to register as such, the 1981 Census of India returned 3.19 million Jains.This was estimated at the time to still be half the true number. The 2001 Census of India had 8.4 million Jains.

3. ^ Historically, the Bahá'í Faith arose in 19th century Persia, in the context of Shia Islam, and thus may be classedon this basis as a divergent strand of Islam, placing it in the Abrahamic tradition. However, the Bahá'í Faithconsiders itself an independent religious tradition, which draws from Islam but also other traditions. The Bahá'íFaith may also be classed as a new religious movement, due to its comparatively recent origin, or may beconsidered sufficiently old and established for such classification to not be applicable.

References1. ^ "People and Society" (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html). The World

Factbook. CIA. 2012.2. ^ Masuzawa, Tomoko (2005). The Invention of World Religions. Chicago University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-

0-226-50989-1.3. ^ Masuzawa 2005. pp. 49–614. ^ Masuzawa 2005, 65-65. ^ Masuzawa 2005, 270–2816. ^ Stephen R. L. Clark. "World Religions and World Orders" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/20019386). Religious

studies 26.1 (1990).7. ^ Joel E. Tishken. "Ethnic vs. Evangelical Religions: Beyond Teaching the World Religion Approach"

(http://www.jstor.org/stable/495028). The History Teacher 33.3 (2000).8. ^ Brodd, Jefferey (2003). World Religions. Winona, Minnesota: Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5.9. ^ Pippa Norris, Ronald Inglehart (2007-01-06), Sacred and Secular, Religion and Politics Worldwide

(http://www.cambridge.org/9780521839846), Cambridge University Press, pp. 43–44, retrieved 2006-12-2910. ^ a b Pew Research Center (2002-12-19). "Among Wealthy Nations U.S. Stands Alone in its Embrace of Religion"

(http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167). Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2006-10-12.11. ^ adherents.com (2005-08-28). "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents"

(http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html). adherents.com. Retrieved 2006-10-12.12. ^ worldvaluessurvey.com (2005-06-28). "World Values Survey" (http://www.worldvaluessurvey.com/).

worldvaluessurvey.com. Retrieved 2006-10-12.13. ^ unstats.un.org (2007.01.06). "United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics"

(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/popchar/popcharMeta.aspx). United Nations Statistics Division.Retrieved 2007-01-06.

14. ^ World Christian Database (http://worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/) Gordon–Conwell Theological SeminaryCentre for the Study of Global Christianity

15. ^ Miller, Tracy, ed. (10 2009). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution ofthe World’s Muslim Population (http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx)(PDF). Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2009-10-08.

16. ^ "The World Factbook" (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html). CIAFactbook. Retrieved 2010-12-08.

17. ^ Clarke, Peter B. (editor), The Religions of the World: Understanding the Living Faiths, Marshall EditionsLimited: USA (1993); pg. 125

18. ^ http://www.tokyo2010.org/resources/Tokyo2010_NM_Alex_Smith(2).pdf19. ^ a b "World (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html)". CIA World Factbook,

201020. ^ Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid, et al. The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy & Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism,

Taoism, Zen. Shambhala: Boston (English: pub. 1994; orig. German: 1986); pg. 50.

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Taoism, Zen. Shambhala: Boston (English: pub. 1994; orig. German: 1986); pg. 50.21. ^ a BBC News article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/forum/story/2008/03/080323_tibet_analysis.shtml)

(Vietnamese)22. ^ Indian Registrar General & Census Commissioner. "Religious Composition

(http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx)". Census of India, 200123. ^ Jainism in Westminsters

(http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/communityandliving/faithsbeliefsandreligions/jainism/) retrieved 11November 2012

24. ^ "World Religions (2005)" (http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_125.asp). QuickLists > The World >Religions. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. Retrieved 2009-07-04.

25. ^ "World: People: Religions" (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html#people).CIA World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2007. ISSN 1553-8133 (//www.worldcat.org/issn/1553-8133).Retrieved 2009-09-06.

26. ^ Sergei Blagov. "Caodaism in Vietnam : Religion vs Restrictions and Persecution(http://lecaodaisme.free.fr/caodainet/English/Htm/Caodai_inVN_SB.htm)". IARF World Congress, Vancouver,Canada, July 31, 1999.

27. ^ Self-reported figures from 1999; North Korea only (South Korean followers are minimal according to self-reported figures). In The A to Z of New Religious Movements by George D. Chryssides. ISBN 0-8108-5588-7

28. ^ Self-reported figures from 1999; North Korea only (South Korean followers are minimal according to self-reported figures). In The A to Z of New Religious Movements by George D. Chryssides. ISBN 0-8108-5588-7

29. ^ a b Self-reported figures printed in Japanese Ministry of Education's 4³ñ� Shuukyou Nenkan, 200330. ^ Clarke, Peter B. (editor), The Religions of the World: Understanding the Living Faiths, Marshall Editions

Limited: USA (1993); pg. 208. "Sekai Kyuseikyo has about one million members, a growing number of them inthe west and the third world, especially Brazil and Thailand. "

31. ^ Pew Research Center (2008-01-01). "Income and Religiosity"(http://benmuse.typepad.com/ben_muse/2008/01/wealth-and-reli.html). Retrieved 2009-09-14.

32. ^ The results have been studied and found "highly correlated with other sources of data", but "consistently gave ahigher estimate for percent Christian in comparison to other cross-national data sets." Hsu, Becky; Reynolds, Amy;Hackett, Conrad; Gibbon, James (2008-07-09). "Estimating the Religious Composition of All Nations"(http://www.princeton.edu/~bhsu/Hsu2008.pdf) (PDF). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

33. ^ International Community, Bahá'í (1992). "How many Bahá'ís are there?"(http://www.bahai.com/thebahais/pg14.htm). The Bahá'ís. p. 14.

34. ^ Barrett, David A. (2001). World Christian Encyclopedia (http://www.bible.ca/global-religion-statistics-world-christian-encyclopedia.htm). p. 4. ISBN 0-19-507963-9.

35. ^ Barrett, David; Johnson, Todd (2001). "Global adherents of the World's 19 distinct major religions"(http://web.archive.org/web/20080228224811/http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/gd/wct-1-2.pdf). William Carey Library. Archived from the original(http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/gd/wct-1-2.pdf) on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2006-10-12.

36. ^ Staff (May 2007). "The List: The World’s Fastest-Growing Religions"(http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835). Foreign Policy (Carnegie Endowment forInternational Peace).

37. ^ Grim, Brian J (2012). "Rising restrictions on religion"(http://www.iirf.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Journal/IJRF_Vol5-1.pdf#page=19). International Journal of ReligiousFreedom 5 (1): 17–33. ISSN 2070-5484 (//www.worldcat.org/issn/2070-5484). Retrieved April 25, 2013.

External linksAnimated history of World Religions (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/civilisations/index.shtml)—from the "Religion & Ethics" part of the BBC website, interactive animated view of the spread of worldreligions (requires Flash plug-in).BBC A-Z of Religions and Beliefs (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/)Major World Religions (http://greenmangos.net/Beliefs-And-Ideas/world-religions.aspx)

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International Council for Inter-Religious Cooperation (http://www.icirc.org)International Imam Organization (http://www.globalimam.com)

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