The global religious landscape Joan Garrod

Presentation title The global religious landscape The world’s major religious groups In December 2012, the Forum on Religion and Public Life, part of the US-based Pew Research Center, published research on the size and projected growth of the world’s major religious groups. The research task on which the report was based was obviously considerable. Question: What problems can you identify with regard to collecting data on who belongs to which religious organisation (if any) on a global scale?

Presentation title The global religious landscape The world’s major religions Questions: 1.Which religions would you identify if asked to name the world’s major religions? 2.Are there any other categories you would wish to look at?

Presentation title The global religious landscape The world’s major religions Those identified by the Pew Forum were (in alphabetical order): Buddhism Christianity Hinduism Islam Judaism

Presentation title The global religious landscape Other groups In addition to these five religions, the study also included estimates for the size and geographic distribution of three other groups: The religiously unaffiliated (those who say they are atheists or agnostics, or who do not identify with any particular religion) Adherents of folk or traditional religions (including Chinese folk religions, Native American and Aboriginal religions and African traditional religions) Adherents of other religions (e.g. Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism) (Note that although some of these religions have large numbers of adherents, they are not specifically measured in censuses and large-scale surveys, so could not be included.)

Presentation title The global religious landscape Who was identified? In order to present data that are comparable across countries, the study focused on groups and individuals who identified themselves in censuses, large-scale surveys and other sources as being members of the religions or groups concerned. More than 2,500 such censuses, surveys etc. were analysed, covering more than 230 countries and territories. Question: Given the nature of the task, this is impressive. What possible problems can you identify with the method? One example is given in the previous slide!

Presentation title The global religious landscape Interesting findings! The research team estimated from its findings that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated children and adults globally. This represents 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion. Roughly one in six people around the world (1.1 billion or 16%) have no religious affiliation.

Presentation title The global religious landscape Percentage of world’s population

Presentation title The global religious landscape Majority or minority? Almost three quarters (73%) of the world’s population live in countries where their religion makes up the majority. Only 27% of people live as religious minorities. Note, however, that this figure does not include subgroups of the eight groups studied, such as Shia Muslims living in Sunni majority countries, or Catholics living in Protestant-majority countries. Question: Why might this be a problem?

Presentation title The global religious landscape Majorities and minorities Percentage of each group living in countries where its adherents are a majority or minority GroupLiving as majorityLiving as minority Hindus973 Christians8713 Muslims7327 Unaffiliated7129 Jews4159 Buddhists2872 Folk religionists ≤ 1≥ 99 Other0100 Source: Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life

Presentation title The global religious landscape Thinking about the figures Obviously, you would not be expected to remember all the figures in this presentation. However, you should make notes of some of the main figures and think about how you might use them. For example, look at the proportion of the world’s people that are religiously affiliated. How might this be used in a discussion about secularisation? What are the implications of people living in a country in which their religious group is a minority? Note also that the figures are about people identifying themselves as ‘belonging’ to a particular group. What do they tell us about the extent of belief or religious practice?

Presentation title The global religious landscape Where are they? The following slides show the regional distribution of Christians, Muslims and the unaffiliated. Again, it is worth making brief notes on the main patterns you observe when comparing these slides.

Presentation title The global religious landscape Source: Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life

Presentation title The global religious landscape Source: Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life

Presentation title The global religious landscape Source: Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life

Presentation title The global religious landscape Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge the kind cooperation of the Pew Research Center and its permission to reproduce this information. You may like to look at the full report: Pew Research Center, ‘The global religious landscape’, December This resource is part of Sociology Review, a magazine written for A-level students by subject experts. To subscribe to the full magazine go to