Which religion has the most followers worldwide?

Jessica Lindsay
Metro UK
April 4, 2018

It’s easy to think we’re a secular society, until events like Easter, Eid, or Passover come along, and plenty of our friends and family are celebrating. In reality, the majority of the world abides by one religion or another, and although there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of denominations, there are a few that are the most popular. Here are the ones that are followed by the most people worldwide.

1. Christianity
According to Pew Research Centre demographic analysis, Christianity is the largest religion in the world. In 2015, it was estimated that there were around 2.3 billion people who considered themselves Christian. This amounts to 31.2% of the world’s population. The research did find, however, that the religion is declining in Europe, noting that more Christians were dying than being born. Numbers were growing in North and Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

2. Islam
Globally, Muslims make up the second-largest religious group. Around 1.8 billion people – or 24% of the world’s population are Muslim. Islam is projected to be the fastest-growing religion worldwide, as births between 2010 and 2015 outnumbered deaths by 152 million. The study did note that while not all babies would stick with their birth religion, this is ‘overshadowed by the impact of differences in fertility and mortality.’

3. Unaffiliated
Although not a religion, 1.2 billion people worldwide didn’t identify as belonging to a religion. This includes people who would consider themselves to be secular, non-religious, atheist, or agnostic. Apparently, half of this group is theistic but not specifically religious. Humanists are also included in this category.

4. Hinduism
There are 500 million Hindus in the world. This is roughly 15% of the population. The highest concentration of Hinduism is in the Asia-Pacific region, with a small amount in America, North Africa, and the Middle East. It’s thought that the Hindu population will rise by about 27% between now and 2060. MORE: WORLD Couple moved baby's body around house for 18 months after it died

5. Other religious groups Buddhists make up 6.9% of the world, and folk religions (African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions) account for 5.7%. 0.8% come under the category of ‘other religions’, which encompasses Baha’is, Jains, Sikhs, Taoists and many smaller faiths. Surprisingly Jewish people only make up 0.2%, or 100 million people in the world.

http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/04/religion-followers-worldwide-7440217/