Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.

More than 6 billion people in the world are religious in one way or another. Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion of the vast Achaemenid Empire of Persia, and it continued to play an important part in the region until the ascent of Islam in the 700s CE. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, Thereafter it became the dominant religion on the Indian subcontinent. Confucianism as a school of thought was founded by the Chinese philosopher Kǒng Qiū (孔丘), better known as Master Kǒng or Kǒngzǐ (孔子), during China's Spring and Autumn period in the 500s BCE. Even though some of these religions date back thousands or several hundreds of years, religion continues to have an integral role in today’s society. Christianity is the world’s most practiced religion in 2019, and experts estimate that it will remain as the largest religion in the world for many years to come. Learn more», Islam is a strictly monotheistic faith founded by the prophet Muhammad in the year 607 in present-day Saudi Arabia. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved: Following is some available data based on the work of the World Christian Encyclopedia:[52]. Here’s a list of the world’s largest religions ranked by the number of followers. Confucius is regarded by many as one of the greatest humans to ever live, and Confucianism is simply based on his teachings.

Zoroastrianism is perhaps the world's oldest monotheistic religion, founded by the Persian prophet Zoroaster. The religion waxed and waned in competition with Jainism and Buddhism throughout Indian history, before seeing a huge resurgence after the medieval period. Mormonism originated in 1820s in what was called the Second Great Awakening, The Number of people who follow the religion: 4 million people (called Mormons), Major areas of the followers of that religion: Cuba and Jamaica. Buddhism is today the fourth largest religion in the world, being the majority religion of many countries in Southeast Asia, and with nearly 200 million practitioners in China.Learn more». In this list of religions, Mormonism is a somewhat less recognized religion even though it is still practiced in some countries such as Jamaica or Cuba. The Number of people who follow the religion: 25 million people (called Sikhs), Major areas of the followers of that religion: India. [6][7], In 1838, the four-way division of Christianity, Judaism, Mahommedanism (archaic terminology for Islam) and Paganism was multiplied considerably by Josiah Conder's Analytical and Comparative View of All Religions Now Extant among Mankind. Learn more», Confucianism, it must be said, is not a religion in a strict sense. The Roman Empire destroyed the Second Temple, the center of Judaism, and the nation was scattered.

Many countries that have been Christian traditionally are seeing a decline in devotees who are more likely to become atheists or non-religious. It is known that after the coming half-century, Christianity’s reign as the largest religion among the rest would end, in accordance with a recent study developed on Pew Research Center ’s actual population growth estimations for the group of religions.

Today, there are various branches of Buddhism around the world, where Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism are the two main teachings. Therefore, Hannah Adams's early encyclopedia, for example, had its name changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects... to A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations.

Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. Here is an overview of branches of religions in the world as well as list of religions, including their beliefs, to help you understand religion better. In. Learn about Muslims and Islam through four short lessons delivered to your inbox every other day. In fact, Muslims and the unaffiliated in Europe both experienced natural increases in their populations, with our new report estimating that there were over 2 million and 1 million more births than deaths, respectively, between 2010 and 2015.

In Germany alone, there were an estimated 1.4 million more Christian deaths than births from 2010 to 2015.

Hindu and Jewish fertility (2.3 each) are both just below the global average of 2.4 children per woman. Christians believe in the holy trinity which consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—as “one God in three Divine Persons”. Map showing the prevalence of "Abrahamic religion" (purple), and "Indian religion" (yellow) religions in each country. Quiz: Where do you fit in the political typology? Hindus (27) are also younger than the median age of the world’s overall population (30), while the median age of Christians (30) matches the global median.

Buddhism continued to grow and develop in East Asia, having a profound impact on the cultural landscape of the entire region. This religion is monotheistic, believing in only one god or godhead that is interpreted as being comprised of three parts: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Infoplease knows the value of having sources you can trust. It’s one of the younger faiths among the largest religions in the world, and it is thought to have originated in the 15th century. Christians faced widespread harassment in 2015, but mostly in Christian-majority countries, 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA Distribution of world religions by country/state, and by smaller administrative regions for the largest countries (2012 data). My name is Alex, and I’m a Professional Travel Blogger and Photographer from Sweden. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in the 6th century BCE in modern-day India.

Copyright 2012 - 2020 Swedish Nomad - Travel Blog | All Rights Reserved, More about the largest religion in the world, Mona Lisa – The most famous painting in the world. The followers are known to believe in the occult and the metaphysical.

[12] Even history professors have now taken note of these complications and advise against teaching "world religions" in schools. The faith can trace its roots all the way back to prehistory. Followers of Hinduism are known as Hindus, and it has been practiced in one way or another for more than 4000 years, perhaps even longer. The sheer number of practitioners, however, makes Hinduism the world's third largest religion.Learn more», Buddhism is a religious tradition founded by Gautama Buddha in the early 400s BCE, drawing from (or opposing) many of the same Vedic traditions that inform Hinduism. The overall world population is predicted to grow by 32% in the next decades. Self-reported figures from North Korea (South Korean followers are minimal according to census): The results have been studied and found "highly correlated with other sources of data", but "consistently gave a higher estimate for percent Christian in comparison to other cross-national data sets. However, there are some indications that many Kurds are converting to Zoroastrianism, which they see as an ancestral religion, which may reverse the long declining population.

Jesus is savior of humanity and the Son of God. World map showing the percentages of people who regard religion as "non-important" according to a 2002 Pew survey. Sikhism has passionate followers but they do not have followers in large numbers all over the world. This is one of the three Abrahamic religions, and it is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

These basic beliefs give birth to the hundreds of religions prominent in the world today.

The Chinese folk religion that Confucianism draws on is still concentrated in China, but its teachings are widespread throughout East Asia.