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The list of religious populations article provides a comprehensive overview of the distribution and size of religious groups around the world. This article aims to present statistical information on the number of adherents to various religions, including major faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, as well as smaller religious communities.
World religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate at least five—and in some cases more—religions that are deemed to have been especially large, internationally widespread, or influential in the development of Western society. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism are always included in the list.
Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories: world religions, a term which refers to transcultural, international faiths; Indigenous religions, which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and new religious movements, which refers to recently developed faiths. [5]
Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and Sub-Saharan Africa. [1] There are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. [1]
Government statistics indicate that 77 percent is Roman Catholic, 10 percent Protestant, 2 percent Muslim, and 11 percent does not identify with any religion. The majority of Christians belong to the Catholic Church; the second largest Christian denomination is the Church of the Nazarene.
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of civility in different societies, [2] but this practice has since fallen into disrepute in many contemporary cultures.
The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). [ 1] The prehistory of religion involves the study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the advent of written records.
This is an overview of religion by country or territory in 2010 according to a 2012 Pew Research Center report. [1] The article Religious information by country gives information from The World Factbook of the CIA and the U.S. Department of State .