Why is Buddhism shrinking worldwide?
The global population of Buddhists shrank by roughly 5% between 2010 and 2020, the sole major religious group to decline.
Global Religious Demographics
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Global Religious Demographics
Publications
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Buddhism’s Recent Decline in East Asia
Buddhism is the only major religion whose global population shrank between 2010 and 2020. Learn why it declined in East Asia, particularly in Japan and South Korea.
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Religious Diversity Around the World
Singapore is the most religiously diverse country, and Yemen the least, as of 2020. The U.S. ranks first among nations with large populations.
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Has there been a Christian revival among young adults in the U.K.? Recent surveys may be misleading
Despite the widely recognized decline of Christianity in the U.K., there have been persistent rumblings of a Christian resurgence.
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Striking findings from 2025
Here’s a look back at 2025 through 12 of our most striking research findings.
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Many religions are heavily concentrated in a few countries
Half of the world’s population lives in just seven countries. But some of the world’s religious groups are even more concentrated than that.
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The number of Christian-majority countries fell between 2010 and 2020
Countries that lost their Christian majorities all saw growing percentages of religiously unaffiliated people.
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Globally, 1 in 10 adults under 55 have left their childhood religion
The share of people who retain their childhood religious identity in adulthood varies across religious categories.
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Islam was the world’s fastest-growing religion from 2010 to 2020
From 2010 to 2020, the number of Muslims increased by 347 million people to 2.0 billion people.
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Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2020
Find how many and what percent of people in 201 countries and territories identify with each religious group, and how diverse these places are as of 2010 and 2020.
