World Religions by Population

This listing includes both organized religions, which have unified belief codes and religious hierarchies, and informal religions, such as Chinese folk religions. For completeness, it also contains a category for the non-religious, although their views would not ordinarily be considered a religion.

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion (Began: ca. 27AD/CE, with major branches as follows:
   • See also the List of Christian denominations by number of membersand List of Christian denominationspages
   • Roman Catholic: 1.098 billion
   • Eastern Orthodox Christian: 240 million
   • African Indigenous Sects: 110 million
   • Pentecostal: 105 million
   • Reformed/Presbyterian/Congregational/United: 75 million
   • Anglican/Episcopal: 73 million
   • Baptist: 70 million
   • Methodist: 70 million
   • Lutheran: 64 million
   • Jehovah's Witnesses: 14.8 million
   • Latter-Day Saints: 12.5 million
   • Adventists: 12 million
   • Apostolic/New Apostolic: 10 million
   • Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement: 5.4 million
   • New Thought(Unity, Christian Science, etc.): 1.5 million
   • Brethren (incl. Plymouth): 1.5 million
   • Mennonite: 1.25 million
   • Friends/Quakers: 300,000
2. Islam: 1.3 billion (Began: ca. 622 AD/CE), with major branches as follows: ***
   • Sunnism: 940 million
   • Shi'ism: 120 million
   • Ahmadiyya: 10 million
   • Druze: 450,000
3. Secular/irreligious/agnostic/atheist/antitheistic/antireligious: 1.1 billion
   • Category includes a wide range of beliefs, without specifically adhering to a religion or sometimes specifically against dogmatic religions. The category includes humanism, deism, pantheism, freethought, atheists, and Juche. Broadly labeled humanism, this group of non religious people are third largest in the world. For more information, see the Adherents.comdiscussion of this category and the note below. **
4. Hinduism: 1.0 billion (Began: approximately 1500BC/BCE or 15th centuryBC/BCE however some aspects of it trace its history to 2600BC/BCE or 26th centuryBC/BCE)
   • Vaishnavism: 580 million
   • Shaivism: 220 million
   • Neo-Hindus and Reform Hindus: 22 million
   • Veerashaivas/Lingayats: 10 million
5. Chinese folk religion: 394 million
   • Not a single organized religion, includes elements ofTaoism, Confucianism, Buddhismand traditional nonscriptural religious observance (also called "Chinese traditional religion").
6. Buddhism: 376 million (Began: 6th centuryBC/BCE)
   • Mahayana: 185 million
   • Theravada: 124 million
   • Vajrayana/Tibetan: 20 million
7. Primal indigenous: 300 million
   • Not a single organized religion, includes a wide range of traditional or tribalreligions, including animism,shamanismand paganism. Since African traditional and diasporic religions are counted separately in this list, most of the remaining people counted in this group are in Asia.
8. African traditional and diasporic: 100 million
   • Not a single organized religion, this includes several traditional African beliefs and philosophies such as those of the Yoruba, Ewe(vodun) and the Bakongo. These three religious traditions (especially that of the Yoruba) have been very influential to the diasporic beliefs of the Americas such as condomble, santeria and voodoo. The religious capital of the Yoruba religion is at Ile Ife.
9. Sikhism: 23 million (Began: 1500s AD/CE)
10. Spiritism: 15 million (Began: mid-19th century AD/CE)
    • Not a single organized religion, includes a variety of beliefs including some forms of Umbanda.
11. Judaism: 14 million (Began: 13th centuryBC/BCE)
    • Conservative: 4.5 million
    • Unaffiliated and Secular: 4.5 million
    • Reform: 3.75 million
    • Orthodox: 2 million
    • Reconstructionist: 150,000
12. Bahá'í Faith: 7 million (Began: 19th century AD/CE)
13. Jainism: 4.2 million (Began: 6th centuryBC/BCE)
    • Svetambara: 4 million
    • Sthanakvasi: 750,000
    • Digambara: 155,000
14. Shinto: 4 million (Began: 300BC/BCE)
    • This number states the number of actual self-identifying practicing primary followers of Shinto; if everyone were included who is considered Shinto by some people due to ethnic or historical categorizations, the number would be considerably higher — as high as 100 million.
15. Cao Dai: 4 million (Began: 1926 AD/CE)
16. Zoroastrianism: "no more than 200,000 (Began: Sometime between 16th and 6th centuryBC/BCE)
    • Parsis: 110,000
    • Gabars: 20,000
17. Falun Gong: before the persecution: 70-100 million; current official estimate of PRC: 2.1 million* (Began: 1992 AD/CE)
    • Not necessarily considered a religion by adherents or outside observers. No membership or rosters, thus the actual figure of practitioners is impossible to confirm.
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million (Began: 1838 AD/CE)
19. Neopaganism: 1 million (Began: 20th century AD/CE)
    • A blanket term for several religions like Wicca, Asatru,Neo-druidism, and polytheistic reconstructionistreligions
20. Unitarian Universalism: 800,000 (Began: 1961 AD/CE)
21. Rastafari: 600,000 (Began: early 1930s AD/CE)
22. Scientology: 500,000 (Began: 1952 AD/CE)