Major Religions of the World

General Information

(This information is from 1999)

Religion	North America	World
Christians	258,770,000 (85.5%)	1,974,181,000 (33.5%)
--Roman Catholics	70,652,000 (34.7%)	1,044,236,000 (18.7%)
--Protestant	69,523,000 (34.5%)	337,346,000 ( 6.9%)
--Orthodox	6,275,000 ( 2.1%)	213,991,000 ( 3.1%)
--Anglican	3,259,000 ( 2.6%)	78,574,000 ( 1.4%)
--Other Christians	109,061,000 (11.6%)	300,034,000 ( 3.5%)
Muslims	4,389,000 ( 1.2%)	1,155,109,000 (18.2%)
Nonreligious	28,201,000 ( 8.8%)	762,640,000 (16.4%)
Hindus	1,308,000 ( 0.5%)	799,028,000 (13.5%)
Buddhists	2,637,000 ( 0.2%)	356,270,000 ( 6.0%)
Atheists	1,628,000 ( 0.5%)	762,640,000 ( 4.3%)
Chinese Folk Religionists	844,000 ( 0.0%)	381,632,000 ( 2.5%)
New-Religionists	813,000 ( 0.5%)	101,406,000 ( 2.2%)
Tribal-Religionists	41,000 ( 0.0%)	99,736,000 ( 1.8%)
Sikhs	514,000 ( 0.1%)	22,837,000 ( 0.3%)
Jews	6,015,000 ( 2.4%)	14,313,000 ( 0.3%)
Shamanists	1,000 ( 0.0%)	10,854,000 ( 0.2%)
Confucians	26,000 ( 0.0%)	6,253,000 ( 0.1%)
Baha'is	770,000 ( 0.1%)	6,932,000 ( 0.1%)
Jains	7,000 ( 0.0%)	4,151,000 ( 0.1%)
Shintoists	56,000 ( 0.0%)	2,778,000 ( 0.1%)
Mandeans	0	38,000
Spiritists	149,000	12,184,000
Zoroastrians	76,000	2,486,000
Ethnic Religionists	434,000	225.421,000
Other Religions	591,000 ( 0.2%)	1,019,000 ( 0.3%)

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Buddhists are about 56% Mahayana, 38% Theravada (or Hinayana), and 6% Tantrayana (or Lamaism). Chinese folk religionists follow a combination of Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, universalist, and local deities. The Confucianist listing is non-Chinese followers of Confucianism. Hindus are about 70% Vaishnavites, 25% Shaivites, 2% neo-Hindus and reformed Hindus, 3% other. Muslims are about 83% Sunni, 16% Shia, and 1% other Schools. The Atheists listed here are described as being opposed to all religions.

This subject presentation was first placed on the Internet in May 1997.

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