Major World Religions populations pie chart statistics list

World Religions statistics & pie charts

This pie chart is based on statistics listing peoples self-admitted adherence to one of the major world religions, or to other faiths, or to people stating that they are of no religion.

As you will see the pie chart only mentions percentages of the world's population whose religiously related self-admission places them in each category.

To get a better idea of the numerical population size statistics please consult the following list of the major world religions.

Christians:: 2,100,000,000 adherents - tending to decline in terms of global percentage
Muslims:: 1,500,000,000 persons - tending to increase in terms of global percentage
Of no religion:: 1,100,000,000 Human Beings - tending to decline in terms of global percentage
Hindus:: 900,000,000 adherents - stable in terms of global percentage
Chinese folk religionists:: 400,000,000 persons
Primal religionists:: 400,000,000 Human Beings
Buddhists:: 375,000,000 adherents - stable in terms of global percentage
Sikhs:: 24,000,000 persons
Jews:: 14,500,000 Human Beings
Baha'is:: 7,400,000 adherents
Jains:: 4,300,000 persons
Shintoists:: 4,000,000 Human Beings
Taoism:: 2,700,000 adherents

This listing of figures hopefully gives a good approximation of the world's populations self-professed adherence to major world religions, other religions, or their self-professed state of not being religious.

The above World Religions pie chart is sourced from Wikipedia

The above image shows projected possible alterations in the levels of faith adherence in the US.

The Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish faiths all feature differences
of faith interpretation, outlook, or practice, which are or similar significance
to the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Other divergences within Christianity.

Trends in adherence to the major World Religions are probably linked to differing rates by which populations are changing in the World's various regions of "prevailing historical religious beliefs" or of the "marked onset of secularism".

Population statistics show relatively rapid increases of overall population in Africa and Asia and relative population decline in Europe. Likewise with secularism which seems to have had a particular onset in Europe.

Interestingly, many people have tried to assess whatever "common ground" there might be between the major world religions - not so much in terms of their founding prophetic figures or their revered Holy Books but moreso in terms of an identifiable commonality of their respective spiritual teachings:-

Some truly extra-ordinary wisdoms ~ a brief selection of "Central Spiritual Insights" gleaned from Christian sources closely followed by another brief selection of "Central Spiritual Insights" drawn from "non-Christian" Inter-Faith sources ~ are set out below, (to be again closely followed by what seems to be a comparable selection of "Central Poetry Insights").

A selection of "Central Spiritual Insights" gleaned from Christian sources

"...the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ..."
(From the first letter written by St. Paul to a faith-community in Corinth)

These Christian quotations have been selected based on their inherent Spiritual Impact, (rather than whether they might be deemed to be Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox), and come from The New International Version of The Bible and from the 'Of the Imitation of Christ'; a fifteenth century devotional work that has long been the second most widely read Christian book after The Bible itself.

A Disdain for Materialism: Some have Me in their mouths, but little in their hearts.
There are others who, being enlightened in their understanding and purified in their affection, always breathe after things eternal, are unwilling to hear of earthly things, and grieve to be subject to the necessities of nature; and such as these perceive what the Spirit of Truth speaketh in them.
For it teacheth them to despise the things of the earth and to love heavenly things; to disregard the world, and all the day and night to aspire after heaven.

Thomas a Kempis - Of the Imitation of Christ Book 3 Ch. 4 v. 4
A Distrust of Intellect: So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

St. Paul
Spiritual Insights are possible!: What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

St. Paul
Charity: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

St. John
Purity of Heart: Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life...

St. Paul
Humility: Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Jesus
Meekness: Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

St. James
On a Contented Life: Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful of nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; and if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

St. Paul

Whilst we should hope that a Personal Spirituality is, in and of itself, satisfying and rewarding it unfortunately cannot insulate us from the challenges of earning a living and coping with disappointments and stresses associated with such realities as accidents, natural disasters and human political divisions and actual conflicts.

"Central Spiritual Insights" drawn from "non-Christian" Inter-Faith sources

"... The original Buddha-nature, in all truth, is nothing which can be apprehended. It is void, omniscient, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peacefulness, and that is all which can be said. You yourself must awake to it, fathoming its depths. ..."
(from: "The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha," edited by Edwin A. Burtt, c 1955, p. 194-204)

A Disdain for Materialism: Chuang Tzu put on cotton clothes with patches in them, and arranging his girdle and tying on his shoes, (i.e. to keep them from falling off), went to see the prince of Wei.
"How miserable you look, Sir!" Cried the prince. "It is poverty, not misery", replied Chuang Tzu. "A man who has TAO cannot be miserable. Ragged clothes and old boots make poverty, not misery".

Chuang Tzu - (Taoism)
A Distrust of Intellect: Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment; Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition.

Rumi - (Islam)
Spiritual Insights are possible!: The intelligence of the mean man does not rise beyond bribes and letters of recommendation. His mind is beclouded with trivialities. Yet he would penetrate the mystery of TAO and of creation, and rise to participation in the ONE. The result is that he is confounded by time and space; and that trammelled by objective existences, that he fails apprehension of that age before anything was. But the perfect man, - he carries his mind back to the period before the beginning. Content to rest in the oblivion of nowhere, passing away like flowing water, he is merged in the clear depths of the infinite.

Chuang Tzu - (Taoism)
Charity: He that does everything for Me, whose supreme object I am, who worships Me, being free from attachment and without hatred to any creature, this man, Arjuna!, comes to Me.

Bhagavad Gita ~ (Hinduism) ~ also known as ~ (Vedanta).

And my soul is absorbed
In the Love of My Lord.
Bow humbly to the saint
That is a pious act.
Bow to the ground before him
That is devotion, indeed.

The faithless know not,
The joy of the love of the Lord;

From Sohila-Arti ~ a bed-time prayer
This section of which is attributed to Guru Ram Das - (Sikhism)
Purity of Heart: The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Solomon - (Judaism)
Humility: Would you become a pilgrim on the road of love? The first condition is that you make yourself humble as dust and ashes.

Ansari of Herat - (Islam)
Meekness: Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth! Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.

Dhammapada - (Buddhism)
On a Contented Life: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

Book of Proverbs - (Judaism)

It is surely worth noting that both The Sermon on the Mount and The Parable of the Sower can be seen as suggesting the "Spirituality" is relative to "Desire" and to "Wrath".

A selection from The Parable of the Sower:

And he taught them many things by parables, and he said unto them in his doctrine,
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred.
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. …

… The sower soweth the word.
And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness;
And have no root in themselves, and so endure for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything secret, but that it should come abroad.

Jesus' teaching from St. Mark's Gospel, Chapter 4

Whilst many of our visitors may be now prepared to accept that it has been shown that Faiths can value "Spiritual Insight" over "Rationality" fuller evidence is available on our pages that Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Taoism and Judaism are all in agreement that "Human Intellect is to be in some ways distrusted" and that "Spiritual Insight is possible, desirable and profoundly important."

The following linked pages are intended to more fully demonstrate a degree of Common Ground between the Inner-most Spiritual Teachings of several major World Religions on Charity, Purity of Heart, Humility, Meekness, A Disdain for Materialism (compared to the Spiritual), A Distrust of the Intellect (compared to Divine Inspiration) and A Yearning for Divine Edification (or A Thirst for Spiritual Enlightenment).
These quotations are presented on a series of very brief pages where each faith is considered individually.

We have seen it as worthwhile to add another category of quotation ~ where recognition has been given "by the wise and holy of several faiths" to the possibility of Mystical Communion with God.

Christian Spirituality Quotations
Buddhist Spirituality Quotations	Islamic Spirituality Quotations	Vedic-Hindu Spirituality Quotations
Sikh Spirituality Quotations	Taoist Spirituality Quotations	Jewish Spirituality Quotations

Is Human Being more truly Metaphysical than Physical?

Where this could, possibly, lead ...

N. B. The page mentioned in the graphic ~ roots.asp ~
has been replaced by this page

This 'knot of roots' insight features in:

Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous essay ~ 'History'

World Religions ~ populations
pie chart statistics list

World Religions statistics & pie charts

A selection of "Central Spiritual Insights" gleaned from Christian sources

"Central Spiritual Insights" drawn from "non-Christian" Inter-Faith sources

A selection from The Parable of the Sower:

Jesus' teaching from St. Mark's Gospel, Chapter 4

Links to Particularly Popular Topics & Pages

Related Link Pages