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" (purple) and " Dharmic " (yellow) religions in each country.]]

Major world religions have been distinguished from minor religions using a variety of methods, though any such division naturally reflects a particular bias, since many adherents of a Religion are likely to consider their own faith "major". Two methods are mentioned in this article, number of adherents and the definitions used by classical scholars of religions.

For a list of all religions, please see the article List Of Religions .

For a discussion of the relationships between religions, see Religious Pluralism


DEFINED BY POPULATION

One way to define a major religion is by the number of current adherents. Population numbers by religion are computed by combination of census reports and population surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example USA or France ), but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used, and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count.


All religions or belief systems by number of adherents



This listing distinguishes between organized religion, which has a single belief code and religious hierarchies, and informal religions, such as Chinese folk religions.
# )


  • Category includes a wide range of beliefs, without specifically adhering to a religion. The category also includes Humanism , Deism , Pantheism , and Freethought . For more information, see the Adherents.com discussion of this category.

    • # )



  • Not a single organized religion, includes a wide range of primarily Asian traditional or Tribal religions, including Shamanism and Paganism .

    • # African traditional and Diasporic 100 million

  • Not a single organized religion, this includes traditional African beliefs such as Yoruba as well as diasporic beliefs such as Santeria (which itself draws from Catholicism) and Vodoun .

    • # )

  • This number states the number of practicing followers of Shintoism; for if partial or ethnic followers of Shintoism were included, the number would fall around 100–115 million.

    • # Sikhism 23 million (Began: 1500s)

# Juche 19 million
  • Not considered a religion by adherents, who view it as secular and Anti-revisionist . Juche is the political ideology of the Workers Party Of Korea , the ruling party of the DPRK ; some have argued it constitutes a religion due to its Great Leader Worship characteristics. The number is approximately the entire population of the country.

    • # Spiritism 15 million (Began: mid-19th century)

  • Not a single organized religion, includes a variety of beliefs including some forms of Umbanda .

    • # )

  • (Began: 1992)

  • Not necessarily considered a religion by adherents or outside observers. No membership or rosters, thus the actual figure of practitioners is impossible to confirm.

    • # Bahá'í Faith 7 million (Began: 19th century)

# )
# Cao Dai 4 million (Began: 1926)
  • --- over 3 million

    • # )


# Tenrikyo 2 million (Began: 1838)
# Neopaganism 1 million (Began: 20th century)

# Rasta 600,000 (Began: early 1930s)

Source of statistics for all religons but Falun Gong and Humanism: adherents.com , updated 2005. These statistics are based on analysis of a range of sources on religious populations, for more on the methodology, please see Adherent.com's explanation .

  • Falun Gong estimate that of the People's Republic of China, other estimates are much higher.




Organized religions by population ranking

The Christian Science Monitor used a separate standard, examining only organized religions. The newspaper listed the following in 1998 as the "Top 10 Organized Religions in the World" based on descending level of population:
# Christianity
# Islam
# Hinduism
# Buddhism
# Sikhism
# Judaism
# Bahá'í Faith
# Confucianism
# Jainism
# Shintoism


HISTORIC "CLASSIC" VIEW

Major religions have also been identified based on their perceived importance, whether theological or temporal. This sorting has been generally been the preserve of , Taoism , Jainism , Shinto , Sikhism , and Zoroastrianism . Later, the Bahá'í Faith was added to this list, resulting in twelve classic religions:

Modern Western definitions of major religion come from the classical definition, often expanding on " Christianity ," and omitting Jainism and Zoroastrianism . An example is this list found in the New York Public Library Student Reference:



SEE ALSO



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