In 2022, how many people believe in a Religion? And which Religion do they believe in? What are the most popular religions in the world? Various data on religions around the world are analyzed in the article. Worldwide more than 85 percent of the population believes in a religious group. Worldwide there are an estimated 4,200+ religions.
Most popular religions in the world
Out of Earth’s 7.8 billion inhabitants, it is estimated that about 2.4 billion people believe in Christianity. The figure of 2.4 billion believers takes into account several denominations including Catholicism, Protestantism, the Orthodox Church and other various smaller groups. In total, Christians represent 31.11 percent of the world’s population. In second position among the world’s most popular religions in 2022 is Islam, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of the total population. And in third position is Hinduism which has nearly 1.2 billion adherents and about 15 percent of the total population.
Most popular religions in the world 2022 (approx.):
- Islam Summy: 1,543,271,481;
- Christian Roman Catholic: 1,250,319,000;
- Hindu: 1,073,619,000;
- Christian Protestants: 624,924,000;
- Buddhism Mahayana: 334,718,996;
- Christian Eastern Orthodox: 293,599,000;
- Islam Shia: 215,232,293;
- Buddhism Theravada: 185,328,289;
- Shinto: 121,818,711;
- Christian Anglican: 75,331,423;
But how does the ranking change when analyzing the data of more specific religions? In first position among the world’s most professed religions is Sunni Islam. In fact, the Sunni population is par to over 1.5 billion and is almost 300,000 more than the Roman Catholic Christian religion, which is just over 1.250 billion people worldwide. In third position among the most practiced religions is Hindu cin 1.073 billion people and followed in fourth position by the Protestant religion which is practiced by nearly 600 million people worldwide. If we add to the figure of Roman Catholics and Protestants that of the Orthodox, who number just under 300,000, that is why Christianity as a whole is the number one religion worldwide.
Most Popular Religion in USA
But what are the most popular religions in the United States? The U.S. has always been a state that has been home to people of different religions. To date, the religion most people practice is Protestantism.
In fact, 42 percent of the population residing in the U.S. is Protestant. In second place among the most popular religions, however, is the Catholic religion, which has 21 percent of the total number of people professing it.
According to data published by Pew Center Research, the percentage of Protestant Christians in the United States has definitely declined over time. At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1900, the percentage of Christian-Protestant people was almost close to 90 percent. The second-largest religion was Catholic, at just over 10 percent, and all other religions together-including non-believers-had very small percentages. Over time the percentage of Protestant Christians has definitely decreased, reaching below 50 percent in 2010. What has increased significantly are in fact unaffiliated people. While in 1900 they accounted for less than 1 percent they currently make up nearly one-third of the total U.S. population.
Most Popular Religion in 2050
The growth of Islam also due to the increase in population in some parts of the world has been very fast. So has the rise of the Hindi Religion. But what will be the most practiced religions in 2050 and 2100? The Pew Researcher Center has tried to answer this question with a research. According to this study in 2050 the first religion (by group) will still be Christian. Compared to 2.17 billion in 2010, the population will increase to 2.92 billion. A strong growth, but that will be less than strong Muslim population. In fact this will pass from 1.6 billion to 2.76 billion. In 2050 Christians and Muslims will be more or less equal in terms of population in the world.
While increasing in absolute terms, the Christian population in percentage terms will not change from 2010 to 2050. In fact, if in 2010 it was 31.4% of the total population, in 2050 it will remain 31.4%. Growing, however, will be the Muslim population. From 23.2% in 2010 it will rise to 29.7%. Almost 3/10 of the population will profess this religion in 2050.
Oldest religion in the World
Christianity is in 2022 the most widespread religion worldwide. But what are the oldest religions in the word? Answering this question is by no means simple. In fact, most of them were born before the invention of written history about 5,000 years ago. According to several sources, the oldest religion in the world is Hinduism. Born over 4,000 years ago, Hinduism is still one of the most important religions around the world. The history of Hinduism holds together several religious traditions that developed especially in the sub-Indian continent. The combination of these cultures and traditions makes it the oldest religion in the whole world.
In second place of the oldest religions worldwide is Judaism. The Abrahamic religion turns out to be the oldest monotheistic religion worldwide. Its origin-again according to the estimates of historians and religious people-was in the Kingdom of Israel. Among the oldest religions we find in third position Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism which is based on the belief of the prophet Zarathustra was for many years one of the most widespread religions in the Central Asian area. This is also a monotheistic religion.
Sources and links helpful in writing the article
To explore some data on the future of religions to 2100 I recommend reading this article/research. The most popular religions up to the new century are shown: https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/
To see the video on the evolution of Religions from 1945 to 2020: https://youtu.be/XW43xRH-UgQ
To read more articles: http://statisticsanddata.org/
