Which indigenous religion has the largest membership

Estimates of the global size of these faiths generally come from other sources, such as the religious groups themselves. By far the largest of these groups are Sikhs, who number about 25 million, according to the World Religion Database.

For more information, see Spotlight on Other Religions. If everyone alive in lined up from youngest to oldest, the person in the middle the median would be 28 years old. The new data suggest a slightly different religious landscape than the estimate made by this study for the broader United Kingdom England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland , which is based primarily on the Annual Population Survey carried out by the U.

In China, the belief in God statistic measures belief in God, gods, spirits, ghosts or Buddha. 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.

It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.

Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Geographic Distribution The geographic distribution of religious groups varies considerably. Defining the Religious Groups This study is based on self-identification. In order to obtain statistics that are comparable across countries, the study attempts to count groups and individuals who self-identify as members of five widely recognized world religions — Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews — as well as people associated with three other religious categories that may be less familiar: Folk or Traditional Religions Folk religions are closely tied to a particular people, ethnicity or tribe.

The Religiously Unaffiliated The religiously unaffiliated population includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. Roadmap to the Report These and other findings are discussed in more detail in the remainder of this report, which is divided into eight sections — one for each of the major religious groupings, in order of size: Christians Muslims Religiously Unaffiliated Hindus Buddhists Folk Religionists Other Religions Jews To discuss the geographic distribution of religious groups, this report divides the world into six major regions: Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

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Other religions make up a much smaller proportion of the population 8. Conversely, the proportion of the population with a religion other than Christianity increased from 7. The Census showed that there were broad similarities in the religious affiliation of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and the non-Indigenous population. This has remained steady over the last 20 years.

The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who reported they had no religion has increased gradually since There are 50 Muslim-majority countries worldwide. Hinduism is the third-largest religion globally.

Hinduism is considered dharma, or way of life. It originated on the Indian subcontinent and is widely practiced throughout Southeast Asia.

The four main denominations are Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Unsurprisingly, India has the largest Hindu population but not the highest percentage of Hindus. There are an estimated 1. Nepal has the second-highest Hindu population at Buddhism also originated in India and is based on the teachings of Buddha.

Buddhists have unique traditions, values, and beliefs, such as reincarnation. About million people practice Buddhism worldwide. China has the largest Buddhist population with Cambodia has the highest percentage of Buddhists at In some nations, traditional Chinese religions, including Confucianism and Taoism, are practiced.

This is most frequently seen in the following nations:. Ethic and indigenous religions are practiced in many countries. Other nations where ethnic and indigenous religions are practiced include:.