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List of religious populations

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Of the 6,450,000,000 people on Earth as of June 2005, as published by the United States Census Bureau, 5,208,000,000 followed world's four largest religions.

Estimates:

Adherents sometimes give much higher figures: Note that these figures may incorporate populations of secular/nominal adherents as well as syncretist worshippers, although the concept of syncretism is disputed by some.

By proportion

Countries with the greatest proportion of Christians (as of 2002):

  1. Vatican City, 100.0% (Roman Catholic 100.0%)
  2. Greece, 98.0% (Orthodox 97.0%, Roman Catholic 1.0%, Muslim 1.3%)
  3. Romania, 97.4% (Orthodox 86.8%, Roman Catholic 5.4%, Other Christian 5.2%)
  4. Portugal, 97% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  5. Poland, 96% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  6. Republic of Ireland, 95% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  7. Argentina, 94% (mostly Roman Catholic, Jewish 2%)
  8. Spain, 94% (mostly Roman Catholic)
  9. Croatia, 92% (Roman Catholic 88%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%)
  10. France, 90% (Muslim 8%, Jewish 1%)
  11. United States, 84% (Muslim 0.5%, Jewish 2%)
  12. Brazil, 80% (mostly Roman Catholic)

Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims (as of 2005):

  1. Somalia, 100%
  2. Mauritania, 99.9%
  3. Maldives, 99.9%
  4. Western Sahara, 99.8%
  5. Turkey, 99.8%
  6. Iran, 99%
  7. Algeria, 99%
  8. Afghanistan, 99%
  9. Yemen, 99%
  10. Tunisia, 99%
  11. Oman, 99%
  12. Comoros, 99%
  13. Djibouti, 99%
  14. Morocco, 98.7%
  15. Iraq, 97%
  16. Libya, 97%
  17. Pakistan, 96.35%
  18. Saudi Arabia, 95.7%
  19. Tajikistan, 95%
  20. Jordan, 95%

Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus (as of 2002):

  1. Nepal 89.5%
  2. India, 80.5% (Muslim 13%, Sikh 2%, Christian 2%)
  3. Mauritius, 50%
  4. Fiji, 40% [?] (Indo-Fijians are 75% Hindu, Muslim 16%, Christian 6%)(see remarks below)
  5. Guyana, 35%
  6. Suriname, 27%
  7. Bhutan, 25%
  8. Trinidad and Tobago, 24%
  9. Bangladesh, 16%
  10. Sri Lanka 15%
  11. Bahrain, 7.7%
  12. United Arab Emirates, 7.5%
  13. Malaysia, 6.3%
  14. Indonesia, 7%
  15. Singapore, 4.4%
  16. Pakistan, 3%
  17. Philippines, 3%
  18. United Kingdom 1.6%
  19. South Africa, 1.5%

Countries with the greatest proportion of Buddhists (as of 2005):

  1. Thailand, 94%
  2. Cambodia, 93%
  3. Mongolia, 93%
  4. Burma, 90%
  5. Bhutan, 74%
  6. Japan, Buddhist 71%
  7. Sri Lanka, 70% (Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 7%)
  8. Laos, 60%
  9. Vietnam, 50%
  10. Singapore, 42.5%
  11. China, 30%
  12. Taiwan, 25%
  13. South Korea, 23.33%
  14. Malaysia, 19.2%
  15. Brunei, 13%
  16. Nepal, 11%

Countries with the greatest proportion of Jews (as of 2000):

  1. Israel, 80% (Muslim 14%, Christian 2%)

By population

Largest Christian populations (as of 2002)#redirect :

  1. United States, 189,983,000
  2. Brazil, 175,405,000
  3. Mexico, 96,614,000
  4. China, 86,801,000
  5. Philippines, 72,225,000
  6. Germany, 60,712,000
  7. Nigeria, 54,012,000
  8. Italy, 47,704,000
  9. France, 45,505,000
  10. Ethiopia, 45,000,824
  11. Congo, 42,283,000

Largest Muslim populations (as of 2002)#redirect :

  1. Indonesia, 182,570,000
  2. Pakistan, 134,480,000
  3. India, 121,000,000
  4. Bangladesh, 114,080,000
  5. Turkey, 65,510,000
  6. Iran, 62,430,000
  7. Egypt, 58,630,000
  8. Nigeria, 53,000,000
  9. Algeria, 30,530,000
  10. Morocco, 28,780,000
    Remarks:

    1) China's Muslim population is estimated to be over 37,000,000 by many estimates but lower according to the Chinese government. [link]

Largest Hindu populations (as of 2003)#redirect :

  1. India, 816,000,000
  2. Nepal, 13,300,000
  3. Bangladesh, 12,600,000
  4. Indonesia, 4,800,000
  5. Sri Lanka, 3,000,000
  6. Malaysia, 1,600,000
  7. Mauritius, 650,000
  8. United Kingdom, 500,000
  9. Fiji, 335,000
  10. Trinidad and Tobago, 280,000

    Remarks:

    1) Hindus include the Yoga practitioners in the population which may have 50 million practitioners in the United States. There are around 150 million who practise Yoga worldwide. After including Yoga practitioners, Hinduism has around 1.1 billion followers worldwide.

    2)75% Hindu at Fiji refers to Indo-Fijians who make up 44% of the population, while ethnic Fijians are mostly Christian (acc. to: Fiji).

Largest Buddhist populations (as of 2005)#redirect :

  1. China, 392,000,000
  2. Japan, 90,000,000
  3. Thailand, 62,000,000
  4. Vietnam, 42,000,000
  5. Burma, 39,000,000
  6. Sri Lanka, 14,000,000
  7. Cambodia, 13,000,000
  8. Korea, South, 11,000,000
  9. India, 8,000,000
  10. Taiwan, 6,000,000
  11. Korea, North, 5,000,000
  12. Malaysia, 5,000,000
  13. Laos, 4,000,000
  14. Nepal, 3,000,000
  15. United States, 3,000,000
  16. Mongolia, 2,600,000
  17. Indonesia, 2,000,000
  18. Singapore, 1,900,000
  19. Bhutan, 1,700,000
  20. Bangladesh, 700,000
  21. Russia, 700,000

Remarks:

1) Because officially atheist Communist governments still rule a number of traditionally Buddhist countries and also because Buddhists often also practise other traditional East Asian religions, the figures could also be much higher. China alone could add an additional 400 million or more in this way. Similarly, the figures for Vietnam and North Korea may be higher, while Japan could easily add another 12 million.

Lists by country

See also

Sources

External links

 


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