Global Distribution of Religions

At first glance, the global distribution of religions appears to be straightforward. In all but a handful of countries, the religion with the largest number of adherents is either Christianity or Islam. Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in every country of the Western Hemisphere and in most countries of Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Islam is the most widely practiced religion in nearly every country of Southwest Asia & North Africa, as well as in Central Asia.

Most Numerous Religions By Country

A darker shading represents a greater prevalence of the majority religion.

Asia also has countries where the most widely practiced religion is Buddhism or Hinduism. In several countries, including China, the largest number of people are unaffiliated with any religion. Judaism is the most widely practiced religion in the State of Israel.

The above graph must be viewed with caution because the map of religions is in reality more complex, especially at regional and local scales it does not display the variety of other religions found in most countries in addition to the most numerous one, nor does it account for regional variations within individual countries. Furthermore, many faiths are divided into branches that have distinctive spatial distributions, as will be discussed in more detail beginning in the next section.

According to Pew, 27 percent of the world’s people live in countries where their religion is in the minority. This includes 3 percent of Hindus, 13 percent of Christians, 27 percent of Muslims, 29 percent of unaffiliated, 59 percent of Jews, 72 percent of Buddhists, 99 percent of folk religionists, and 100 percent of other religious groups. In addition, a large percentage of Christians and Muslims live in countries where their branch of the religion is the minority.

Regional Diversity of Religions

Some world regions have a large majority of adherents of one religion, whereas others have more of a mix. Around 90 percent of Latin Americans and more than 70 percent of Europeans and North Americans identify themselves as adhering to Christianity. Muslims comprise more than 90 percent of the population of Central Asia and of Southwest Asia & North Africa.

Most Numerous Religions By Region

The four regions with more diverse religious composition are East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa:

• In East Asia, more than one-half of the people are unaffiliated with any religion. Most of the other one-half are divided about equally between Buddhism and folk religions.

• In South Asia, around two-thirds of the people are Hindus and one-third Muslims. However, adherents are sharply divided by country; India is around 80 percent Hindu, whereas Bangladesh and Pakistan are more than 90 percent Muslim.

• In Southeast Asia, around 40 percent are Muslims and 23 percent each Buddhists and Christians. Indonesia (the region’s most populous country) is 87 percent Muslim, Cambodia and Thailand are more than 90 percent Buddhist, and the Philippines is more than 90 percent Christian.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, around two-thirds are Christian and one-third Muslim. Christians are more numerous in the south and Muslims in the north.

Pause & Reflect 6.1.2

In what ways are the distributions of religion and language families similar?