Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995

▪ Table

Latin Northern Number of

Africa Asia Europe America America Oceania World % countries

Christians 348,176,000 306,762,000 551,892,000 448,006,000 249,277,000 23,840,000 1,927,953,000 33.7 260

Roman Catholics 122,108,000 90,041,000 270,677,000 402,691,000 74,243,000 8,265,000 968,025,000 16.9 249

Protestants 109,726,000 42,836,000 80,000,000 31,684,000 123,257,000 8,364,000 395,867,000 6.9 236

Orthodox 29,645,000 14,881,000 165,795,000 481,000 6,480,000 666,000 217,948,000 3.8 105

Anglicans 25,362,000 707,000 30,625,000 1,153,000 6,819,000 5,864,000 70,530,000 1.2 158

Other Christians 61,335,000 158,297,000 4,795,000 11,997,000 38,478,000 681,000 275,583,000 4.8 118

Atheists 427,000 174,174,000 40,085,000 2,977,000 1,670,000 592,000 219,925,000 3.8 139

Baha'is 1,851,000 3,010,000 93,000 719,000 356,000 75,000 6,104,000 0.1 210

Buddhists 36,000 320,691,000 1,478,000 569,000 920,000 200,000 323,894,000 5.7 92

Chinese folk religionists 12,000 224,828,000 116,000 66,000 98,000 17,000 225,137,000 3.9 60

Confucians 1,000 5,220,000 4,000 2,000 26,000 1,000 5,254,000 0.1 12

Ethnic religionists 72,777,000 36,579,000 1,200,000 1,061,000 47,000 113,000 111,777,000 2.0 104

Hindus 1,535,000 775,252,000 1,522,000 748,000 1,185,000 305,000 780,547,000 13.7 94

Jains 58,000 4,804,000 15,000 4,000 4,000 1,000 4,886,000 0.1 11

Jews 163,000 4,294,000 2,529,000 1,098,000 5,942,000 91,000 14,117,000 0.2 134

Mandeans 0 44,000 0 0 0 0 44,000 0.0 2

Muslims 300,317,000 760,181,000 31,975,000 1,329,000 5,450,000 382,000 1,099,634,000 19.2 184

New-Religionists 19,000 118,591,000 808,000 913,000 956,000 10,000 121,297,000 2.1 27

Nonreligious 2,573,000 701,175,000 94,330,000 15,551,000 25,050,000 2,870,000 841,549,000 14.7 226

Parsees 1,000 184,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 189,000 0.0 3

Sikhs 36,000 18,130,000 490,000 8,000 490,000 7,000 19,161,000 0.3 21

Shintoists 0 2,840,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 2,844,000 0.0 4

Spiritists 4,000 1,100,000 17,000 8,768,000 300,000 1,000 10,190,000 0.2 30

Other religionists 88,000 98,000 443,000 184,000 1,068,000 42,000 1,923,000 0.0 182

Non-Christians 379,898,000 3,151,195,000 175,107,000 33,999,000 43,564,000 4,709,000 3,788,472,000 66.3 262

Total population 728,074,000 3,457,957,000 726,999,000 482,005,000 292,841,000 28,549,000 5,716,425,000 100.0 262

Continents. These follow current UN demographic practice, which divides the world into the 6 major areas shown above and 21 regions (1994). See United

Nations, World Population Prospects: The 1994 Revision (1995), with populations of all continents, regions, and countries covering the period 1950-2025.

The table above therefore combines its former columns "East Asia" and "South Asia" into one single continental area, "Asia," which also now includes

the former U.S.S.R. Central Asian republics. Note also that "Europe" now extends eastward to Vladivostok, the Sea of Japan, and the Bering Strait.

Countries. The last column enumerates sovereign and nonsovereign countries in which each religion or religious grouping has a numerically significant following.

Rows. The list of non-Christian religions is arranged in alphabetical order.

Adherents. As defined and enumerated for each of the world's countries in World Christian Encyclopedia (1982), projected to mid-1995, adjusted for recent data.

Christians. Followers of Jesus Christ affiliated with churches (church members, including children: 1,791,227,000) plus persons professing in censuses or

polls though not so affiliated.

Other Christians. This term in the above table denotes Catholics (non-Roman), marginal Protestants, crypto-Christians, and adherents of African, Asian, black,

and Latin-American indigenous churches.

Atheists. Persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including antireligious (opposed to all religion).

Buddhists. 56% Mahayana, 38% Theravada (Hinayana), 6% Tantrayana (Lamaism).

Chinese folk religionists. Followers of the traditional Chinese religion (local deities, ancestor veneration, Confucian ethics, Taoism, universism, divination,

some Buddist elements).

Confucians. Non-Chinese followers of Confucius and Confucianism, mostly Koreans in Korea.

Hindus. 70% Vaishnavites, 25% Shaivites, 2% neo-Hindus and reform Hindus.

Jews. Adherents of Judaism. For detailed data on "core" Jewish population, see "World Jewish Populations" in the American Jewish Committee's American Jewish Year Book.

Muslims. 83% Sunnites, 16% Shi'ites, 1% other schools. Up to 1990 the ethnic Muslims in the former U.S.S.R. who had embraced communism were not included as Muslims

in this table. After the collapse of communism in 1990-91, these ethnic Muslims were once again enumerated as Muslims in cases where they have returned

to Islamic profession and practice.

New-Religionists. Followers of Asian 20th-century New Religions, New Religious movements, radical new crisis religions, and non-Christian syncretistic

mass religions, all founded since 1800 and most since 1945.

Nonreligious. Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion.

Other religionists. Including 70 minor world religions and a large number of spiritist religions, New Age religions, quasi religions, pseudo religions,

parareligions, religious or mystic systems, religious and semireligious brotherhoods of numerous varieties.

Total population. UN medium variant figures for mid-1995, as given in World Population Prospects: The 1994 Revision (1995).

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