5 Religions With The Most Followers

Religions have shaped much of world history and thought, from philosophy to law, from music to architecture, from wars to peace.

Much of the world's religions can be traced back to two sources: Abrahamic religions or India. The Abrahamic religions includes Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahá'í Faith, Samaritanism, Druze and the Rastafari movement. Indian subcontinent was the source of major religions including Hinduism, Jainism Buddhism and Sikhism.

We have listed below the religions with the most followers in order:
(1) Christianity: About 2.3 billion followers. About 50% of Christians are Roman Catholics.
(2) Muslim: About 1.5 billion followers. About 80-90% of Muslims are Sunni and 10-20% are Shia. The Shia-Sunni split in the Muslim religion occurred due to the dispute over the succession after the prophet Muhammad died in 632.
(3) Non-religious or atheist: About 1 billion people
(4) Hindu: About 900 million followers with the vast majority living in India.
(5) Buddhist: About 400 million followers. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the vast majority of Buddhists live in Asia.

Note: Other sources such as http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html list slightly different estimates though they are all generally within 10% of each other. For purposes of counting adherents, we have grouped atheists (people who do not believe in deities) and non-religious people together.

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Comments

[HS Vachoa]

11:24 AM on 05/19/2011

The statistics of Hindu population is questionable when we see that percentage of Hindus is falsified because of forced identification of Indian Untouchables, Sikhs , Buddhist and other ethnic groups as Hindus who don't identify themselves as Hindus and are prohibited from defining their identity other than Hindu.

[nkb89]

10:31 AM on 06/11/2011

Its good you touched upon this topic. The fact is that Hindus believe religions which came out of Hinduism are essentially Hindus as well. But that would be like saying that because Christianity came out of Judaism, CHristians are actually Jews. It makes no sense.

[aamfo]

03:09 PM on 05/18/2011

Are Harijans Hindus - Other high caste hindus do not accept them as one of their own co-religonist.
If this is true than Hindus will be less than 4% instead of 13%.
These Harijans are not allowed in temples nor they are treated as equals. If they were Hindus this discrimination would not have been there.

[Angela Shortt]

05:36 PM on 04/28/2011

Thank you for acknowledging the Baha'i Faith! Well...I guess I should thank the CIA, but...(shudder), come on, Angela, you are a Baha'i! "The earth is one country, and mankind its citizens," Baha'u'llah said. And 'Abdu'l-Baha' said, "My admonition and exhortation to you is this: Be kind to all people, love humanity, consider all mankind as your relations and servants of the most high God. Strive day and night that animosity and contention may pass away from the hearts of men, that all religions shall become reconciled and the nations love each other so that no racial, religious or political prejudice may remain and the world of humanity behold God as the beginning and end of all existence. God has created all, and all return to God. Therefore, love humanity with all your heart and soul." (Deep breath) Sooo...yes. (I'm trying here!) Thank you, CIA! There. I did it! Whew!

[TomMartin]

08:50 PM on 04/28/2011

No religious prejudice? Your religion preaches shunning all dissident Baha'is. Anyone who leaves the majority Baha'i faith to join another Baha'i group is shunned. That is not very loving. That is not very different from the shunning done by the Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses, Exclusive Brethren or other similar groups.

[Ron Broxted]

12:32 PM on 04/28/2011

I am a Pastafarian. I worship spaghetti.

[see-ellen2001]

08:19 PM on 04/28/2011

A penne for your thoughts.

[Ron Broxted]

04:54 AM on 04/29/2011

Ravioli, wasn't he an opera singer?

[ftorres0]

08:02 AM on 04/28/2011

Have you the people who oversee this information on religion ever heard of jehovahs witnesses? The most persecuted cristians on this planet earth and hardly any mention of them, in addition to they being the most active religous group on earth. Of course one thing is certain jehovahs witnesses dont need propaganda from the news media. just a thought of mine,also Jesus Christ said " Wisdom is proved rightous by its works, Matthew 11:19

[TomMartin]

09:02 PM on 04/28/2011

They are the most persecuted Christians? There are extreme Christian groups that are more often persecuted, like the Family (formerly called the Children of God), or the groups that reject any medical treatment even for their children, so if their child dies the parents are arrested. Sure Jehovah's Witnesses are persecuted in militaristic countries when they refuse to be drafted, but that is true of all pacifist groups there, the same persecution. No wonder the Mennonites, the Quakers and others fled to America, to escape persecution for their refusal to be drafted. And one can understand such persecution, after all those who refuse to be drafted are weakening their country in case it is attacked, which can lead to an occupation by a harsh enemy. I too had to flee from an occupied country, but then resistance against the Soviet Union would have been futile.

[nira]

02:13 PM on 06/06/2011

It's just sad an upsetting that anyone is persecuted because of their religion. Everyone has the right to believe what they want, and to change those beliefs when they see fit. Religion should play no role anywhere in this world. It is a personal piece of each individual's life. There is nothing wrong with identifying with any religion and that should be respected by all people, all countries around the world. It doesn't seem logical to persecute such small number of people that are members of these smaller religions. It just doesn't make sense.

[Michael Dadtka]

06:38 PM on 04/27/2011

But tomorrow, we'll rule the world.

[William D Simpson]

05:02 PM on 04/27/2011

With all the books which have been written, and speeches made, by people who have had something to say about GOD, why is the knowledge of this Supreme Being such a difficult ideal for our reason to comprehend.

http://wsimpson.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/why-the-confusion-about-god/

[FoxReincarnated]

07:09 AM on 04/27/2011

Whats popular isnt always right, whats right isnt always popular.

Speaking of religions, shouldnt Paganism be included in the list somewhere?

[Bianca Befana]

09:29 AM on 04/27/2011

Good Morning FR! It most certainly should be on that list. After all, the United States Government has approved it as a "true" religion for all the Pagan & Wiccan men & women serving in the U.S. Forces. But why should we be lumped into religions, such as Christianity, which has been wiping out more interesting religions for at least 2000 years! Blessed Be!

[iwinagin]

11:27 AM on 04/27/2011

Look for the big black triangle labeled "other." Thats you. As for the actual list you are right that the "Others" should have bumped the Buddhists out of the top five.

[DianaLynn1967]

02:04 AM on 04/30/2011

"Others" probably also includes Judaism since I don't see that listed either.

[NoSandwiches]

07:09 AM on 04/27/2011

Lumping in atheists and the "non-religious" is just plain misleading. Do you want to say that the atheists are taking over the world? Then anyone who doesn't go to church "enough" gets lumped in with the atheists. That's an insult to atheists all over the world.

Look at any set of comments in the religion section and you will see that there are those who argue that Mormons aren't Christians. Do they get thrown in with the atheists? What about Terry Jones, the Koran burner. He self reports as a Christian. What makes one a "Christian?" to qualify here? How many of them are in the third world countries? My guess is it depends on whether you want to show the superiority of Christian numbers or whether you want to

How many times do you count the person who claims to be Christian, Bhuddist, and Shinto at the same time?

+/- 10%? Because the study is inherently flawed.

[Joseph Schmoe]

06:24 AM on 04/27/2011

So, religions claim superiority based on popularity.
Sounds more like a student council election or America's Idol to me.

[revamk]

11:31 AM on 04/27/2011

I don't see that the author is claiming superiority. He's just saying these are the faiths that have the most adherents. You're reading something into this that simply isn't there.

[jeffgauthier]

11:07 PM on 04/26/2011

I am just sure your numbers are derived from what I like to call "funny mathematics" I just don't know how you come up with so many christians compared to muslims or buddhists. I think your totals come up with more people than what the total earth population is.

[john1513]

02:35 PM on 04/26/2011

Is it unhelpful or weird to group "non-religious" and "atheists" together? I do not see much similarities besides that it's "cool" and "rebellious" to say you are one.

[way2sunny]

06:16 PM on 04/27/2011

Not necessarily. I was raised that way.

[Soul American]

12:07 PM on 04/26/2011

Christianity and Islam has used the persecution complex for the last 2000 years have gone to become the Goliath!

[Shanon Smith]

10:36 AM on 04/26/2011

I'm actually glad that non religious and athiest was taken into account, so many people shout about the US being a "christian nation" that they forget that not everyone believes in their god, or any gods at all. Its nice to see those billion citizens acknowledged for once.

Freedom of religion includes freedom From religion... the right to believe or not believe and practice as you choose.

[Dave24]

02:11 PM on 04/26/2011

It's long overdue for us to shed our ignorant myths, replacing them with science and open-ended philosophy.

Then again, I'm reminded of Voltaire: "It's hard to free fools from the chains they revere."

[James Ng]

06:13 PM on 04/26/2011

it might be "chains" from your perspective, and freedom from theirs, its subjective

[James Ng]

06:19 PM on 04/26/2011

It's might seem like "chains" in your perspective, but to them it's "freedom", its subjective

[detroitblkmale30]

07:50 AM on 04/26/2011

Wow particularly poignant numbers this Resurrection season. From 12 to 2.3 billion. God is amazing.