Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Seven Continental Areas, Mid-1994

▪ Table

Latin Northern Number of

Africa Asia Europe America America Oceania Eurasia World % countries

Christians 351,682,000 304,887,000 422,159,000 422,140,000 246,319,000 23,240,000 109,747,000 1,900,174,000 33.6 260

Roman Catholics 132,102,000 132,053,000 267,972,000 411,514,000 100,386,000 8,427,000 5,615,000 1,058,069,000 18.7 249

Protestants 93,865,000 87,051,000 75,441,000 17,513,000 99,652,000 7,718,000 9,903,000 391,143,000 6.9 236

Orthodox 30,685,000 3,904,000 36,869,000 1,789,000 6,217,000 591,000 94,129,000 174,184,000 3.1 105

Anglicans 28,873,000 755,000 33,625,000 1,319,000 7,593,000 5,872,000 1,000 78,038,000 1.4 158

Other Christians 66,158,000 81,125,000 8,252,000 10,004,000 33,445,000 623,000 100,000 199,707,000 3.5 118

Muslims 293,993,000 675,297,000 13,194,000 1,395,000 5,500,000 107,000 43,967,000 1,033,453,000 18.3 184

Hindus 1,608,000 759,059,000 725,000 912,000 1,315,000 379,000 2,000 764,000,000 13.5 94

Buddhists 23,000 336,755,000 279,000 559,000 578,000 26,000 401,000 338,621,000 6.0 92

Chinese folk religionists 14,000 149,037,000 61,000 76,000 126,000 21,000 1,000 149,336,000 2.6 60

New-Religionists 23,000 126,869,000 51,000 548,000 1,473,000 10,000 1,000 128,975,000 2.3 27

Tribal religionists 69,872,000 28,197,000 1,000 967,000 42,000 71,000 0 99,150,000 1.8 104

Sikhs 29,000 19,557,000 237,000 8,000 363,000 9,000 1,000 20,204,000 0.4 21

Jews 128,000 4,289,000 1,761,000 458,000 5,907,000 95,000 813,000 13,451,000 0.2 134

Shamanists 1,000 10,754,000 2,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 250,000 11,010,000 0.2 11

Confucians 1,000 6,300,000 2,000 2,000 26,000 1,000 2,000 6,334,000 0.1 6

Baha'is 1,631,000 2,817,000 93,000 827,000 379,000 81,000 7,000 5,835,000 0.1 210

Jains 57,000 3,906,000 15,000 4,000 4,000 1,000 0 3,987,000 0.1 11

Shintoists 0 3,383,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 0 3,387,000 0.1 4

Other religionists 472,000 12,912,000 1,513,000 3,686,000 1,503,000 4,000 329,000 20,419,000 0.4 182

Nonreligious 2,936,000 733,740,000 58,199,000 19,327,000 23,884,000 3,756,000 82,236,000 924,078,000 16.3 226

Atheists 344,000 167,739,000 16,362,000 3,329,000 1,367,000 563,000 49,407,000 239,111,000 4.2 139

Total Population 722,814,000 3,345,498,000 514,655,000 474,240,000 288,788,000 28,366,000 287,164,000 5,661,525,000 100.0 262

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: The 1992 Revision, 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 basically by descending order of magnitude of global adherents in 1994; 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-1994; adjusted for recent data.

Christians. Followers of Jesus Christ affiliated with churches (church members, including children: 1,759,289,000) 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.

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

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 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 most since 1945.

Jews. Adherents of Judaism. For detailed data on "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.

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

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

Total Population. UN medium variant figures for mid-1994, as given in World Population Prospects: The 1992 Revision (New York: UN, 1993), pages 185-191. (DAVID B. BARRETT)

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