RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

Most people in the world follow one of the following religions. Listed is the name of the religion, the approximate date of its origin, its sacred or ethical texts (if any) and its estimated numerical strength (in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the world's population.

Christianity    30 CE     The Bible        1830 million 33%
Islam          622 CE     Quran & Hadith    971 million 18%
No religion*   no date    none              876 million 16%
Hinduism      1500 BCE    The Veda          732 million 13%
Buddhism       523 BCE    The Tritaka       314 million  6%
Atheists       no date    none              240 million  4%
Tao Te Ching   270 BCE                      184 million  3%
New Religions+ various    various           143 million  3%
Aboriginal     prehistory oral tradition     97 million  2%
Sikhism        1500 CE    Guru Granth Sahib  19 million
Judaism        1300 BCE   Torah, Talmud      18 million
Shamanists     prehistory oral tradition     10 million                      
Confucianism    520 BCE   Lun Yu              6 million
Bahai Faith    1863 CE    Most Holy Book...   6 million
Jainism         570 BCE   Siddhanta, Pakrit   4 million
Shinto          500 CE    Kojiki, Nohon Shoki 3 million
Other          various    various            19 million 
Zoroastrianism  600 BCE   Avesta              0.1 million

* Persons with no religion, agnostics, freethinkers
+ A variety of religious movements founded after 1800; most since 1945.

Main census source: The World Almanac, 1994

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