This data and the methodology that produced it are described in the Pew Research Center report “How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020.” 

This work was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. Funding for the Global Religious Futures project comes from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation.

This dataset provides estimates of the number of people of all ages in seven categories: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, people who belong to other religions and those who are religiously unaffiliated. 

The “other religions” category includes Baha’is, Daoists (also spelled Taoists), Jains, Shintoists, Sikhs, Wiccans, Zoroastrians and many small groups, some of which can be described as folk or traditional religions. The religiously unaffiliated category – sometimes called “nones” – consists of people who do not identify with any religion.

This analysis is based on more than 2,700 sources of data, including national censuses, large-scale demographic surveys, general population surveys and population registers. Our estimates cover 201 countries and territories that had populations of at least 100,000 people in 2010 or 2020. Collectively, these places are home to 99.98% of the world’s population. Data on country population totals and general demographic characteristics come from the 2024 revision of the United Nations’ World Population Prospects.

In most countries, it is not possible to precisely measure the number of people who identify with each religion. For reporting purposes, please use figures in the rounded counts worksheet. For example, the rounded count worksheet has a value “<10,000” for values below 10,000. 

We also provide a worksheet of unrounded counts, which should be used with caution. For example, these figures may be appropriate for regression analyses.

The following files are contained in the Religion Composition 2010-2020 dataset.zip file:
• Excel version of data – contains three worksheets: rounded counts, unrounded counts, and percentages.
• CSV version of data – three separate files for rounded counts, unrounded counts, and percentages.

Updated on Feb. 12, 2026

We have updated the Excel file to include a worksheet listing a Religious Diversity Index (RDI) score, religious diversity level and religious diversity rank for each country and territory studied. These religious diversity statistics are based on the distribution of seven religious categories mentioned above. A corresponding CSV file has also been added. For details about how we calculated the religious diversity of each place, read the 2026 Pew Research Center report “Religious Diversity Around the World” at https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/02/12/religious-diversity-around-the-world.

The following are contained in the Religion Composition 2010-2020 dataset.zip file:

• Excel version of data – contains four worksheets: rounded counts, unrounded counts, percentages and diversity statistics
• CSV version of data – four separate files for rounded counts, unrounded counts, percentages and diversity statistics
