Figures from Encyclopedia Britannica,
probably the most respected of all encyclopedias
A non-religious encyclopedia can be expected to mix together everyone who claims to belong to a certain religion, regards of whether their commitment is strong enough to change their lives. So it is hardly surprising that the following figures are larger than others I quote. Nevertheless, they are very interesting. The real world is surprisingly different to what most of us think.
* 33.0% of people in the world are Christian * 19.3% are Muslim * 15.3% are atheists or non-religious * 13.4% are Hindu * 6.4% follow traditional Chinese religions |
* 6.0% are Buddhist * 3.8% follow tribal or indigenous religions * 1.7% belong to religions created since 1800 * 0.4 % are Sikhs * 0.2% are Jews |