Adherents of All Religions by Seven Continental Areas, Mid-1993
Latin Northern
Africa Asia Europe America America Oceania Eurasia World % Countries
Christians 341,208,000 300,383,000 409,653,000 443,056,000 241,147,000 22,686,000 111,618,000 1,869,751,000 33.5 270
Roman Catholics 128,167,000 130,102,000 260,034,000 412,366,000 97,892,000 8,229,000 5,711,000 1,042,501,000 18.7 259
Protestants 91,070,000 85,764,000 73,206,000 17,550,000 97,176,000 7,537,000 10,071,000 382,374,000 6.9 246
Orthodox 29,771,000 3,847,000 35,777,000 1,793,000 6,062,000 577,000 95,733,000 173,560,000 3.1 105
Anglicans 28,013,000 744,000 32,629,000 1,322,000 7,404,000 5,734,000 1,000 75,847,000 1.4 158
Other Christians 64,187,000 79,926,000 8,007,000 10,025,000 32,614,000 609,000 102,000 195,470,000 3.5 118
Muslims 284,844,000 668,298,000 13,633,000 1,400,000 3,332,000 104,000 42,761,000 1,014,372,000 18.2 184
Nonreligious 2,578,000 721,113,000 57,542,000 18,444,000 24,718,000 3,572,000 84,907,000 912,874,000 16.4 236
Hindus 1,569,000 746,512,000 707,000 916,000 1,285,000 369,000 2,000 751,360,000 13.5 94
Buddhists 22,000 332,143,000 273,000 561,000 565,000 26,000 412,000 334,002,000 6.0 92
Atheists 336,000 167,217,000 16,669,000 3,343,000 1,336,000 549,000 52,402,000 241,852,000 4.3 139
Chinese folk religionists 14,000 140,661,000 60,000 76,000 123,000 21,000 1,000 140,956,000 2.5 60
New-Religionists 22,000 121,693,000 50,000 550,000 1,439,000 10,000 1,000 123,765,000 2.2 27
Tribal religionists 70,000,000 28,654,000 1,000 971,000 41,000 69,000 0 99,736,000 1.8 104
Sikhs 28,000 19,318,000 232,000 8,000 257,000 9,000 1,000 19,853,000 0.4 21
Jews 359,000 6,264,000 1,475,000 1,132,000 6,850,000 100,000 1,973,000 18,153,000 0.3 134
Shamanists 1,000 10,591,000 2,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 257,000 10,854,000 0.2 11
Confucians 1,000 6,204,000 2,000 2,000 26,000 1,000 2,000 6,230,000 0.1 6
Baha'is 1,591,000 2,774,000 91,000 830,000 370,000 79,000 7,000 5,742,000 0.1 220
Jains 56,000 3,847,000 15,000 4,000 4,000 1,000 0 3,927,000 0.1 11
Shintoists 0 3,332,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 0 3,336,000 0.1 4
Other religionists 461,000 12,714,000 1,475,000 3,701,000 491,000 4,000 337,000 19,183,000 0.3 182
Total Population 703,090,000 3,291,718,000 501,881,000 474,996,000 281,986,000 27,602,000 294,681,000 5,575,954,000 100.0 272
NOTES:
Continents. These follow current UN demographic terminology. UN practice began in 1949 by dividing the world into 5 continents, then into 18 regions (1954), then into 8 major
continental areas (called macro regions in 1987) and 24 regions (1963), and 7 major areas and 22 regions (1988). (See United Nations, World Population Prospects 1990, with
populations of all continents, regions, and countries covering the period 1950-2025.) The table above therefore now combines its former columns "East Asia" and "South Asia" into
one single continental area, "Asia" (which excludes Eurasia [or European Asia], our provisional new term for the former U.S.S.R.).
Countries. The last column enumerates sovereign and nonsovereign countries in which each religion or religious grouping has a significant following.
Rows. The list of religions is arranged by descending order of magnitude of global adherents in 1993 (last two columns but one); similarly for categories within "Christians."
Adherents. As defined and enumerated for each of the world's countries in World Christian Encyclopedia (1982), projected to mid-1993, adjusted for recent data.
Christians. Followers of Jesus Christ affiliated with churches (church members, including children: 1,726,420,000) plus persons professing in censuses or polls though not so affiliated.
Other Christians. Catholics (non-Roman), marginal Protestants, crypto-Christians, and adherents of African, Asian, black, and Latin-American indigenous churches.
Muslims. 83% Sunnites, 16% Shi'ites, 1% other schools. Up to 1990 the former ethnic Muslims in the 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 are once again enumerated as Muslims where they have returned to Islamic profession and practice.
Nonreligious. Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion.
Hindus. 70% Vaishnavites, 25% Shaivites, 2% neo-Hindus and reform Hindus.
Buddhists. 56% Mahayana, 38% Theravada (Hinayana), 6% Tantrayana (Lamaism).
Atheists. Persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including antireligious (opposed to religion).
Chinese folk-religionists. Followers of the traditional Chinese religion (local deities, ancestor veneration, Confucian ethics, Taoism, universism, divination, some Buddhist elements).
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 mostly since 1945.
Jews. Estimates of the Jewish population worldwide differ widely; for detailed discussion of a more narrowly defined "core" Jewish population, see the annual "World Jewish Populations"
article in the American Jewish Committee's American Jewish Year Book.
Confucians. Non-Chinese followers of Confucius and Confucianism, mostly Koreans in Korea.
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-1993, as given in World Population Prospects 1990 (New York: UN, 1991), pages 136-142. (DAVID B. BARRETT)
Copyright © 1994-1999 Encyclopжdia Britannica, Inc.
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