Major religious groups

The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative degrees of civility in different societies, but this concept of a ranking order has since fallen into disrepute in many contemporary cultures.

Religious demographics

thumb|upright=1.8|A map of major denominations and religions according to the Pew Research Center's 2010 study The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050

One way to define a major religion is by the number of current adherents. The population numbers by religion are computed by a combination of census reports and population surveys, in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example the United States or France. Results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count.

There is no consensus among researchers as to the best methodology for determining the religiosity profile of the world's population. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved:

Whether to count "historically predominant religious culture(s)".
Whether to count only those who actively "practice" a particular religion.
Whether to count based on a concept of "self-identification as adherents".
Whether to count only those who expressly self-identify with a particular denomination.
Whether to count only adults, or to include children as well.
Whether to rely on official government-provided statistics.
Whether to use multiple sources and ranges or single "best source(s)".

Pew Research Centre's 2025 report on religious changes from 2010-2020, had Christians as the world's largest group at 2.3 billion representing 28.8%, 2 billion Muslims at 25.6%, 1.9 billion Religiously unaffiliated at 24.2%, 1.2 billion Hindus at 14.9%, 300 million Buddhists at 4.1%, 200 million Other religions at 2.2%, and 10 million Jews at 0.2%.

Largest religious groups

{|style="width:;" class="wikitable sortable"

! Religion !! Followers <br /> (billions) !! Cultural tradition !!class="unsortable"| Founded !!class="unsortable"| References

| Christianity || align=right|2.3|| Abrahamic religions || Judaea (Middle East), c. 30 CE ||

| Islam || align=right||| Abrahamic religions|| Hejaz (Middle East), c. 610 CE||

|Irreligion

| align="right" |1.9

|Secularism

|Worldwide

| Buddhism || align=right|0.3 || Indian religions || Indian subcontinent, c. 5th century BCE ||

| Taoism || align=right| || Chinese religions || China, 2nd century CE ||

| Yoruba Religion || align=right| || African religions || Yorubaland, unknown origin date ||

| Voodoo || align="right" |60 || African religions || Dahomey, unknown origin date ||

| Sikhism || align=right|25–30 || Indian religions || Indian subcontinent, 15th century ||

| Ahmadiyya || align="right" |10-20 || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || Indian subcontinent, 19th century ||

| Judaism || align=right|15 || Abrahamic religions || Judah (Middle East), 6th to 5th century BCE ||

| Spiritism || align=right| || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || France, 19th century ||

| Mu-ism || align=right| || Korean religions || Korea, unknown origin date ||

| Unification Church || align="right" |10 || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || South Korea, 1954 ||

| Ayyavazhi || align="right" | || Dharmic religions and New religious movements || South India, 19th century ||

| Baháʼí Faith || align="right" | || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || Persia, 19th century ||

| Confucianism || align="right" | || Chinese religions || China, 6th to 5th century BCE ||

|Sarnaism

| align="right" |5

|Indian religions

|Chota Nagpur Plateau, Unknown

| Jainism || align="right" | || Indian religions || Indian subcontinent, 7th to 9th century BCE ||

| Cheondoism || align="right" | || Korean religions and New religious movements || Korea, 19th century ||

| World Mission Society Church of God || align="right" |3.9 || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || South Korea, 1964 ||

| Hoahaoism || align="right" | || Vietnamese religions || Vietnam, 20th century ||

| Iglesia ni Cristo || align="right" |2.8 || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || Philippines, 1913 ||

|Ravidassia

| align="right" |1.5–2

|Indian Religions and New religious movements

|Indian subcontinent, 2010

| Caodaism || align=right| || Vietnamese religions || Vietnam, 20th century ||

| Tenriism || align=right| || Japanese religions || Japan, 19th century ||

| Druze || align="right" |1 || Abrahamic religions || Egypt, 9th century ||

| Tengrism || align="right" |1 || Animism || Central Asia, unknown origin date ||

| Rastafari || align="right" |1 || Abrahamic religions and New religious movements || Jamaica, 1930s ||

| Yarsanism || align="right" |1 || Abrahamic religions and Iranian religions || Iran, 14th century ||

Small-sized religions

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Religion !! data-sort-type="number" | Followers !! Cultural tradition !! class="unsortable" | Founded !! class="unsortable" | References

|Wicca

| align="right" |800,000

|New religious movement

|United Kingdom, 1954 CE

|Yazidism

| align="right" |300,000-500,000

|Kurdish religions

|Kurdistan, 16th to 14th century CE

|Assianism

| align="right" |200,000-450,000

|Iranian religions

|Ossetia, 1980s

|Donyi-Polo

| align="right" |370,000

|Indian religions and New religious movements

|Indian subcontinent, 1970

| Native American Church

| align="right" | 300,000

| Native American religions, New Religious movements

| United States, 19th century

|Sanamahism

| align="right" | 222,422

|Indian religions

|Manipur, 10th century BCE

| Zoroastrianism || align="right" |205,000 || Iranian religions || Iran, 16th to 14th century BCE ||

| Rodnovery || align="right" |22,000-777,000 || Modern paganism || Eastern Europe, 1930s-1950s ||

| Mandaeism || align="right" |60,000-70,000 || Abrahamic religions and Iranian religions|| Middle East, 1st to 3rd century CE ||

|Happy Science

| align="right" |13,000-38,000

|Japanese religion and New religious movement

|Japan, 1986

|Shugendō

| align="right" |6,000

|Japanese religion

|Japan, 7th century CE

|Roman Traditionalism

| align="right" | 3,200

|Modern Paganism

|Italy, 1970s; Roots in Ancient Rome

|Samaritanism

| align="right" |900

|Abrahamic religions

|Judah, 6th to 5th century BCE

By region

Religions by country according to The World Factbook – CIA
Religion by region
Religion in Africa
Religion in Antarctica
Religion in Asia
Religion in the Middle East
Muslim world (SW Asia and N Africa)
Religion in Europe
Religion in the European Union
Christian world
Religion in North America
Religion in Oceania
Religion in South America

Trends in adherence

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Trends in adherence

!1970–1985 (%)

!1990–2000 (%)

!2000–2005 (%)

! 1970–2010 (%)

!Baháʼí Faith

|3.65

|2.28

|1.70

|4.26

!Buddhism

|1.67

|1.09

|2.76

!Christianity

|1.64

|1.36

|1.32

|2.10

!Confucianism

|0.83

!Hinduism

|2.34

|1.69

|1.57

|2.62

!Islam

|2.74

|2.13

|1.84

|4.23

!Jainism

|2.60

!Judaism

|1.09

| -0.03

!Sikhism

|1.87

|1.62

|3.08

!Shinto

| -0.83

!Taoism

|9.85

!Zoroastrianism

|2.5

!Neopaganism

| 7.03

| 2.28 Indian religions in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and East Asian religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are Afro-American religion, which have their origins in Central and West Africa.

In contemporary scholarship, Modern Paganism is increasingly classified as a distinct supra-regional group, encompassing both eclectic traditions and polytheistic reconstructionism, the latter of which often functions as a contemporary ethnic religion focused on reviving pre-Christian European traditions.

Middle Eastern religions:
Abrahamic religions are the largest group, and these consist mainly of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. They are named for the Hebrew patriarch Abraham, and are unified by the practice of monotheism. Today, at least 3.8 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions and are spread widely around the world apart from the regions around East and Southeast Asia. Several Abrahamic organizations are vigorous proselytizers. Abrahamic religions with fewer adherents include the Baháʼí Faith,
Iranian religions, partly of Indo-European origins, include Zoroastrianism, Yazdânism, Uatsdin, Yarsanism, Manichaeism, and Yazidism.
Gnosticism, including historical traditions of Mandaeism, which is still alive in the Middle East and diaspora.
Eastern religions:
Indian religions, originated in Greater India and they tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma, karma, reincarnation among others. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. In 2010 Ravidassia religion was separated from Sikhism.
East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese), Đạo (in Vietnamese) or Dō (in Japanese or Korean). They include many Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese religions, which are influenced by Chinese religious thought.
Indigenous ethnic religions, found on every continent, now marginalized by the major organized faiths in many parts of the world or persisting as undercurrents (folk religions) of major religions. Includes traditional African religions, Asian shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions, Chinese folk religions, and postwar Shinto. Under more traditional listings, this has been referred to as "paganism" along with historical polytheism.
African religions: These movements are often affiliated with the European Congress of Ethnic Religions, emphasizing a "Native Faith" identity tied to European cultural heritage.
New religious movement is the term applied to any religious faith which has emerged since the 19th century, often syncretizing, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions such as Ayyavazhi, Mormonism, Ahmadiyya, Jehovah's Witnesses, polytheistic reconstructionism, and so forth.

History of religious categories

thumb|300px|An 1821 map of the world, where "Christians, Mahometans, and Pagans" correspond to levels of civilization. The map makes no distinction between Buddhism and Hinduism.

thumb|300px|An 1883 map of the world divided into colors representing Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Mohammedans (Muslims), and [[Fetishism|Fetishists]]

Christian categorizations

Initially, Christians had a simple dichotomy of world beliefs: Christian civility versus foreign heresy or barbarity. In the 18th century, "heresy" was clarified to mean Judaism and Islam; along with paganism, this created a fourfold classification which spawned such works as John Toland's Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile, and Mahometan Christianity, which represented the three Abrahamic religions as different "nations" or sects within religion itself, the "true monotheism."

Daniel Defoe described the original definition as follows: "Religion is properly the Worship given to God, but 'tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and false Deities." At the turn of the 19th century, in between 1780 and 1810, the language dramatically changed: instead of "religion" being synonymous with spirituality, authors began using the plural, "religions", to refer to both Christianity and other forms of worship. Therefore, Hannah Adams's early encyclopedia, for example, had its name changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects... to A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations.

In 1838, the four-way division of Christianity, Judaism, Mahommedanism (archaic terminology for Islam) and paganism was multiplied considerably by Josiah Conder's Analytical and Comparative View of All Religions Now Extant among Mankind. Conder's work still adhered to the four-way classification, but in his eye for detail he puts together much historical work to create something resembling the modern Western image: he includes Druze, Yazidis, Mandaeans, and Elamites under a list of possibly monotheistic groups, and under the final category, of "polytheism and pantheism", he listed Zoroastrianism, "Vedas, Puranas, Tantras, Reformed sects" of India as well as "Brahminical idolatry", Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Lamaism, "religion of China and Japan", and "illiterate superstitions" as others.

The modern meaning of the phrase "world religion", putting non-Christians at the same level as Christians, began with the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. The Parliament spurred the creation of a dozen privately funded lectures with the intent of informing people of the diversity of religious experience: these lectures funded researchers such as William James, D. T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts, who greatly influenced the public conception of world religions.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the category of "world religion" fell into serious question, especially for drawing parallels between vastly different cultures, and thereby creating an arbitrary separation between the religious and the secular.

Islam categorizations

In Islam, the Quran mentions three categories: Muslims, the People of the Book, and idol worshipers.