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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. # )
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# Secular / Irreligious / Agnostic / Atheist 1.1 billion
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# Primal indigenous 300 million
# African traditional and Diasporic 100 million
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# Sikhism 23 million (Began: 1500s) # Juche 19 million
# Spiritism 15 million (Began: mid-19th century)
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# Bahá'í Faith 7 million (Began: 19th century) # ) # Cao Dai 4 million (Began: 1926)
# ) # Tenrikyo 2 million (Began: 1838) # Neopaganism 1 million (Began: 20th century)
# Unitarian Universalism 800,000 (Began: 1961) # 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 .
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 REFERENCES |
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