Religions

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The World Religion Database contains data on 18 major religious categories, including atheists and agnostics. It provides the best estimates for each of the religions as well as major traditions for Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, in every country in the world (234) for the period 1900 to 2050.

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Geography

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The World Religion Database has extensive data on the world’s 234 countries and 22 United Nations regions. The countries can be further defined by 1,800 major cities and 3,000 provinces. Field values are determined through extensive research and are verified for consistency of definition and interpretation, and are implemented consistently on a worldwide basis.

Also available are religious profiles for nearly 100 groups of countries such as: The European Union, NATO, the Middle East, ASEAN, the Balkans, UN Security Councils, Belt and Road Initiative, the G7, former USSR countries, Global North and Global South, Communist states, sub-Saharan Africa, and custom-made collections of countries or regions.

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Religious Diversity

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A unique feature of the WRD is its analysis of religious diversity worldwide in 1900, 2015, and 2050. Each country’s Religious Diversity Index (RDI) value is calculated for religions over 10% of the country’s population, over 5%, and over 0.5%.

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Contextual Data

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Censuses and Surveys

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One unique feature of the WRD is the ability to view all available census and survey data related to religion in a given country and, where available, by province or locality. Users can see religion data from sources such as:

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Typical Questions

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About the World Christian Database

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World Population Prospects

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01 Jul 2021

The 2019 revision of population data from the UN Population Division has been incorporated into WRD and reconciled with religious affiliation data in every country.

While the UN's 2021 revision is also now imminent, the significant demographic effects of COVID-19 are unlikely to be seen until at least the 2023 revision.

Update: The UN has pushed back the date of the next population revision from June 2021 to March 2022, with Urban prospects now not planned until 2023.

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Updated to 2020

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20 Jan 2020

The base year of the World Religion Database has been updated from mid-2015 to mid-2020.

This means that estimates for the number of religionists in every country of the world are now reconciled with the United Nations population projections for mid-2020. The update includes statistics on all world religions as well as Peoples and Countries preliminary data on Cities and Provinces.

Unless labelled otherwise, all data in WRD now refer to 2020.

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Census data added

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01 Oct 2019

This quarter sees data processed from a further 184 censuses. These include historical censuses from Sweden in 1900 and Sri Lanka in 1901 through to the Irish census of 2016 and Niger census of 2017. A full listing of the new census data is available in the query "Census data added this quarter" on the Censuses and Surveys page.

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Journalists & Media

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The World Christian Database and the World Christian Encyclopedia are widely quoted in the popular press and in research & religious literature. Recent citations are included in:

• The Wall Street Journal
• Chicago Tribune
• Washington Post
• New York Times
• Christianity Today
• updatesweek
• LA Times
• Time

We continue to foster a strong working relationship with the media and offer qualified updates & media journalists guided access to the WCD editorial team with questions pertaining to statistics on Christianity.

To contact the editors please send an email to wrd@brill.com or to the researchers at wrd@brill.com.

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Editors

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Todd M. Johnson, Ph.D.

Todd M. Johnson is Associate Professor of Global Christianity and Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Johnson is visiting Research Fellow at Boston University’s Institute for Culture, Religion and World Affairs leading a research project on international religious demography. He is co-editor of the Atlas of Global Christianity (Edinburgh University Press) and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed.) and World Christian Trends (William Carey Library). He is editor of the World Christian Database (Brill), co-editor of the World Religion Database (Brill), and co-author of The World’s Religions in Figures (Wiley-Blackwell).

Brian J. Grim, Ph.D

Brian J. Grim is President of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation. He is an associate scholar at Georgetown University and an affiliated scholar at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s council on the role of faith and an advisor for the religion and geopolitics project of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Grim received a doctorate in sociology from the Pennsylvania State University. He is co-author of The Price of Freedom Denied (Cambridge Univ. Press) and The World’s Religions in Figures (Wiley-Blackwell).

Gina A. Zurlo, Ph.D.

Gina A. Zurlo holds a Ph.D. in History and Hermeneutics from Boston University (2017). She is a Visiting Research Fellow at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs as well as Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA). Her research interests include quantitative sociology and demography of religion. She is the co-editor of the World Christian Database and associate editor of the World Religion Database.

Peter F. Crossing

Peter F. Crossing is the Data Analyst for the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, working on the World Religion Database (Brill) and World Christian Database (Brill). He has a Diploma of Theology (Missiology) from the Australian College of Theology at WEC's Missionary Training College and has gained further computer mapping and database expertise through work at the Sydney Centre for World Mission, the National Church Life Survey, and Mapinfo Australia. His analysis has also contributed to numerous publications, including the World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford University Press), Atlas of Global Christianity (Edinburgh University Press), and The World’s Religions in Figures (Wiley-Blackwell).

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Contact Us

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Technical Support

Send your question to wrd@brill.com

We continue to foster a strong working relationship with the media and offer qualified updates & media journalists guided access to the WCD editorial team with questions pertaining to statistics on Christianity.

To contact the editors please send an email to wrd@brill.com or to the researchers at wrd@brill.com.

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