It makes it legal to have citizens in your country that have less rights, Szymanski explained. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. One popular estimate claims there exist some 4000-4300 religions worldwide, but this number is highly disputed. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Measuring religion in surveys with different modes, About Three-in-Ten U.S. Bishop Rolando lvarez of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The 10-point Religious Diversity Index is divided into four ranges: Countries with scores of 7.0 and higher (the top 5%) are categorized as having a "very high" degree of religious diversity. The map features brief descriptions of each religious grouping and bar graphs that reflect the percentage of a . Big reductions in the share of Americans who say religion is very important to them can be interpreted as indicators of continuing decline in the countrys religiosity, though direct comparisons should be interpreted with caution. All but one of the countries are in either Africa or Asia. Now we have to millions to rescue them. In some nations, traditional Chinese religions, including Confucianism and Taoism, are practiced. Thursday, June 22, 2023. Mainline Protestant 14.7% Historically Black Protestant 6.5% Catholic 20.8% Mormon 1.6% Orthodox Christian 0.5% Jehovah's Witness 0.8% Other Christian 0.4% Non-Christian Faiths 5.9% Jewish 1.9% Muslim 0.9% Buddhist 0.7% Hindu 0.7% Other World Religions 0.3% Other Faiths 1.5% Unaffiliated (religious "nones") 22.8% Atheist 3.1% Agnostic 4.0% Estimates of the global size of these faiths generally come from other sources, such as the religious groups themselves. The most popular religion is Christianity, followed by an estimated 2.38 billion people worldwide. In 2020, the World Religion Database estimated that the countries with the highest percentage of atheists were North Korea and Sweden. Even though most Americans have a religious preference and say religion is at least fairly important to them, much smaller proportions regularly attend religious services. While the Baltic countries have a substantial Christian population, only Lithuania and Latvia have large numbers of Catholics. As of 2021, 21% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Catholic, identical to the Catholic share of the population in 2014. The demographic study explores the size, geographic distribution and median age of eight major religious groups including the unaffiliated that together represent 100% of the estimated 2010 global population. China has the largest Buddhist population with 254.7 million, followed by Thailand at 66.1 million, Burma (Myanmar) with 41.44 million, and Japan with 41.38 million. But there are many, many more religions than that. Estimates from 2009-2019 are based on random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone surveys, an interviewer-administered mode in which a live person asks questions over the phone. The report also highlighted concerns of declining religious freedom in the West, such as hate speech laws, compelled speech, censorship, the rise of cancel culture, and religious freedom restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these cases, political leaders avoid the direct sanction of bloodshed but instead turn members of a religious faith into second-class citizens. She said this is often employed as a means to improve optics on the global stage. Seven-in-ten Buddhists (72%), for example, live as religious minorities. Most religions teach faith in a higher power, be it one's own spirituality, nature, the God/YHWH/Allah of Christians, Jews, and Muslims, or the Hindu deities Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Shakti, and Surya. These are among the key findings of a new study of the global religious landscape conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. Religions of the World. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. This study is based on self-identification. In some cases, both are at play. Gallup trends on this measure of church attendance date back only to 1992, at which time 34% of U.S. adults said they attended church every week. Even more importantly, guidelines about what is a truly separate religion and what is simply a denomination (subdivision) are rare, if not nonexistent. Szymanski said that autocrats, whether elected or not, persecute people of faith when they become jealous and fearful of the mobilization of any religious leader. She said in most cases, an autocrat tries to push them aside or make friends [and] try to co-opt the religious leader. If unsuccessful, she said this leads to more aggressive forms of persecution. And the 2021 NPORS finds that 41% of U.S. adults now say religion is very important in their lives, 4 points lower than the 2020 NPORS and substantially lower than all of the Centers earlier RDD readings on this question. Moreover, it counts each of the various denominations in a given religion separatelyso Christianity, for example, would not count as one religion, but hundreds: Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, Assembly of God, Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon, and so on. 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;[77] these religions are not ubiquitous worldwide in the way that adherents of bigger world religions are, and they remain primarily an ethnic religion. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. But a new analysis of Pew Research Center data on educational attainment and religion suggests that economics, not religion, is the key factor limiting the education of Muslim women. [5] Line graph. That is, despite their lack of belief in God, they routinely interact with religious individuals or. Create a culture that ensures employees are involved, enthusiastic and highly productive in their work and workplace. Other nations where ethnic and indigenous religions are practiced include Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, and Togo. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. The secularizing shifts evident in American society so far in the 21st century show no signs of slowing. Whereas indicators of religious identity and frequency of prayer produced by self-administered surveys (like the NPORS) can be directly compared with estimates produced by interviewer-administered surveys (like the Centers earlier telephone surveys), self-administered surveys may produce slightly lower estimates of religions importance compared with interviewer-administered surveys. Christians continue to make up a majority of the U.S. populace, but their share of the adult population is 12 points lower in 2021 than it was in 2011. Globally, Muslims live in the biggest households, followed by Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated. Irreligious includes agnostic, atheist, secular people, and those having no formal religious adherence. Seven percent identify with a non-Christian religion, including 2% who are Jewish, 1% Muslim and 1% Buddhist, among others. Your monthly donation will help our team continue reporting the truth, with fairness, integrity, and fidelity to Jesus Christ and his Church. Indigenous statistics come from the U.S. Department of State International Religious Freedom Report (2009),[88] based on the highest estimate of people identified as indigenous or followers of indigenous religions that have been well-defined. Many different religions exist throughout the world. However, separate surveys conducted among Pew Research Centers American Trends Panel found very little difference in self-reported patterns of religious attendance between a major survey conducted in summer 2019 (before the pandemic) and another major survey conducted in summer 2020 (during the pandemic). (See Religiously Unaffiliated.). The most popular religion is Christianity, followed by an estimated 2.38 billion people worldwide. The report was released on the first day of Religious Freedom Week, in which the U.S. Catholic bishops have invited Catholics to pray for greater religious liberty both in the U.S. and around the world from June 2229. At its peak in the mid-to-late 1950s, 49% of U.S. adults said they had attended church in the past seven days. The global Muslim population is more concentrated in Islams main population centers than the global Christian population is for Christianity. (return to text), 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA U.S. Muslims Concerned About their Place in Society, But Continue to Believe in the American Dream, Why Americas nones dont identify with a religion, More Americans now say theyre spiritual but not religious, Why people with no religion are projected to decline as a share of the worlds population. Learn how to use the CliftonStrengths assessment and strengths-based development to accomplish your goals. A plurality of Jews (44%) live in North America, while about four-in-ten (41%) live in the Middle East and North Africa almost all of them in Israel. (For more details, see the Methodology.). About 85 percent of the world's population identifies with a religious group. Many religions can be difficult to tell apart for those not intimately familiar with their doctrine. Its first intolerance, then discrimination, then persecution, and then genocide, she said. Measuring Religion in Pew Research Centers American Trends Panel. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. To use Christianity as an illustration, the practices and beliefs of a traditional Mennonite church differ greatly from those of a modern Vineyard or Assembly of God church, but both are still considered part of the Christian religion. If you think religion belongs to the past and we live in a new age of reason, you need to check out. PRRI's 2020 Census of American Religion provides unprecedented county-level data on religious identity and diversity in the United States. People that practice Islam are known as Muslims. In the 2021 NPORS, 4% of respondents describe themselves as atheists (up from 2% in 2011), and 5% describe themselves as agnostics (up from 3% a decade ago). Globally, Muslims make up the second largest religious group, with 1.8 billion people, or 24% of the world's population, followed by religious "nones" (16%), Hindus (15%) and Buddhists (7%). Another 10% say they attended remotely. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The vast majority of Americans have a religious preference -- predominantly a Christian one -- though that percentage is declining. The ISSP survey asks about belief in God or a higher power of some kind. Chinese results are based on a Pew Forum analysis of the 2007 Spiritual Life Study of Chinese Residents, conducted by the Chinese polling firm Horizon. About 85% of the world's people identify with a religion. This is a list of religious populations by number of adherents and countries. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World, Size & Demographic Characteristics of Religious Groups, http://features.pewresearch.org/religion/grl/population-number.php, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/popreg/popregmethods.htm, Q&A: The Muslim-Christian education gap in sub-Saharan Africa, Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa are twice as likely as Christians to have no formal education, How Religious Groups Differ in Educational Attainment, Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, Online Religious Services Appeal to Many Americans, but Going in Person Remains More Popular, As AI Spreads, Experts Predict the Best and Worst Changes in Digital Life by 2035, More than half of states now recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday, Inflation, Health Costs, Partisan Cooperation Among the Nations Top Problems. Christians now outnumber religious nones by a ratio of a little more than two-to-one. About 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa, and nearly 16% reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Statistics commonly measure the absolute number of adherents, the percentage of the absolute growth per-year, and the growth of . Based on interviews with more than 500,000 respondents between 2013 and 2020, the census report reveals the shifting dynamics of American religious affiliation across geography, race and ethnicity, age, and political affiliation over the last decade. U.S. Church Membership. In 2000, 44% had gone to church in the past seven days, and in 1958, 49% had. When describing their behavior more generally, 22% of Americans report they attend religious services "every week," with another 9% saying they do so "almost every week" and 11% saying they attend about once a month. 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