One thing that unites people, no matter where they are, is the presence of religion. While religion can be a divisive topic, the chances are that no matter where you call home, you’ve come into contact with a few major religions.
Whether you consider yourself to be a part of a religion or not, knowing a little bit about the world’s most prevalent religions can be useful knowledge to have. Religion can influence the customs and culture of a particular country or region, so knowing about the religious tradition of a place can help you prepare for everything from a visit to a business meeting.
We’re going to take a look at a few of the world’s biggest religious organizations. We’ll go over a few facts like where the religion is popular and how many people belong to it, as well as a bit of history. Keep reading to learn more about the biggest religions in the world.
Largest Religious Organizations
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Approximate Total Members in 2020: 2.6 billion
One of the most prevalent religions in the western world, Christianity counts nearly 32% of the world’s population among its members. Christians can be found in almost every part of the world, but they form the majority in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.
Christianity is considered one of the three Abrahamic religions alongside Judaism and Islam. There are many sub-groups, or denominations, of Christianity, including Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodoxy.
There are even further divisions under those denominations, totaling about 30,000 different religious groups across the world that consider themselves Christians.
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Approximate Total Members in 2020: 1.9 billion
Islam is the second biggest religion in the world with nearly two billion adherents. While Muslims can be found across the globe, they are the majority population in countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Altogether, Muslims make up about 24% of the world’s population. Unlike Christianity, which has many denominations with large memberships, Islam only has two major denominations.
Sunni Muslims make up about 85% of Muslims while Shia Muslims represent around 10% of the population, with the rest of Muslims falling into smaller denominations.
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Hinduism
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 1.7 billion
Hinduism is unique to this list since most Hindus are located in one country which happens to be one of the most populous countries in the world – India. Hinduism originated in India and today about 1,120,000,000 people in India consider themselves Hindus, or nearly 80% of the country’s population.
Other countries with large Hindu populations (in decreasing order) include Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the US. Hinduism doesn’t have any officially recognized denominations. Instead, the religion is considered a family of religions instead of one unified and cohesive religion.
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Approximate Total Members in 2020: 506 million
Like Hinduism, Buddhism is a blanket term for many different beliefs and practices, but they all center around the teachings of the Buddha (also known as Siddhārtha Gautama). Most Buddhists live in Southeast Asia and East Asia, but there are Buddhist populations all over the globe.
Buddhist practices tend to change by region with Theravada Buddhism being popular around Southeast Asia and Pure Land, Zen, and other practices popular around East Asia, though the regional differences aren’t very strict.
In all, Buddhists make up about 5% of the global population.
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Chinese Folk Religion
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 394 million
While the term ‘Chinese folk religion’ encompasses many beliefs and practices, it also borrows from other more institutionalized religions on this list. There are influences of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and other belief systems indigenous to China and the surrounding areas in Chinese folk religion.
Since China has a huge population and there are many Chinese people living in other countries across the world, more than 394 million people, or 5% of the population, practice Chinese folk religion. Places with the most adherents include China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore.
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Other Major Religions
Of course, these five religions aren’t the only ones with huge membership in the world. Other prominent religions claim many followers and play a huge role in the culture and customs of various regions across the globe.
Now, we’ll show you some other important religions, where most of their followers live, and how many people are part of the religion.
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Ethnic Religions
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 300 million
Percentage of Global Population in 2020: 3%
Locations: Japan (Shintoism), Middle East (Alawites and Druze), Ireland (Celtic religion), Greece (Hellenism), and more
Referring to a broad category of indigenous religions and other belief systems that don’t belong to any institutionalized religion, ethnic religions are present across the globe.
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Traditional African Religions
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 100 million
Percentage of Global Population in 2020: 1.2%
Locations: Present across Africa, but practices vary by region
Traditional African religions encompass everything from religious practices indigenous to Africa to ethnic religions of the continent.
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Sikhism
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 26 million
Percentage of Global Population in 2020: 0.3%
Locations: India, United Kingdom, Canada, and more
One of the youngest religions on this list, Sikhism began in the late 15th century and has become a major world religion.
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Spiritism
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 15 million
Percentage of Global Population in 2020: 0.19%
Locations: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Jamaica, Japan, Argentina, and more
Spiritism is based on a belief that all living things have immortal spirits that learn and grow throughout many lives and followers of the teachings can be found in over 35 countries across the world.
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Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Approximate Total Members in 2020: 14.7 million
Percentage of Global Population in 2020: 0.18%
Locations: Israel, United States, France, Canada, United Kingdom, Argentina, and more
Originating in the Middle East, and now claiming members across the world, Judaism is one of the three Abrahamic religions with Christianity and Islam.
Bonus: Non-Religious Groups
Approximate Total in 2020: 1.2 billion
While not an official religion, it’s important to note that secular and nonreligious populations also exist in large numbers. If non-religious people counted as a religion, they would’ve been third on this list instead of Hinduism.
People who do not believe in or belong to a religion, also known as secular, agnostic, atheist, or non-religious, make up a significant portion of the global population.
These people do not adhere to a religion or believe in any religion and total nearly 1.2 billion. They make up about 15% of the global population, showing that while many people consider themselves part of a religion, there are still many who do not.
Author
Amanda is a writer with experience in various industries, including travel, real estate, and career advice. After taking on internships and entry-level jobs, she is familiar with the job search process and landing that crucial first job. Included in her experience is work at an employer/intern matching startup where she marketed an intern database to employers and supported college interns looking for work experience.
