Top Eight World Religions

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

The world's most popular religions

83% of the world's population is religious, give or take a few points. But, the numbers of those religious people varies wildly across different religions. The table below lists the largest religious groups by percentage of global population as of 2010, the last year for which we have a thorough international survey. 

Religion Percent world population
Christians 31.5%
Muslims 23.2
Religiously Unaffiliated 16.3
Hindus 15.0
Buddhists 7.1
Folk Religionists 5.9
Other Religions 0.8
Jews 0.2
 
NOTE: The category Folk Religionists includes followers of African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions. The category Other Religions includes Bahai's, Jains, Sikhs, Shintoists, Taoists, followers of Tenrikyo, Wiccans, Zoroastrians and many other faiths.
Source: Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, Global Religious Landscape, December 2012.


 
 
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