Global distribution of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism: HSC Studies of Religion II

What this dot point is asking

Within the religious dimension in human history, the Studies of Religion II syllabus asks you to investigate statistical data of the current global distribution of the five major religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. You need to know, for each tradition, roughly how many adherents there are, where they live (regions and key countries) and how the picture is changing, with numbers you can attribute to a source.

It was the 5-mark short answer in 2024 ("Describe the current global distribution of TWO religious traditions ... make reference to statistical data") and has appeared in multiple-choice questions in 2023 and 2025. For the other parts of this section (animism, polytheism, monotheism and the significance of religion) see the religious dimension in human history.

The answer

Where the data come from

The standard source for global religious statistics is the Pew Research Center in Washington DC. Its June 2025 report How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 analysed more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. The figures below are Pew's estimates for 2020 unless stated otherwise.

Two cautions that strengthen any answer:

• Estimates differ. Pew's earlier 2012 report (for 2010) estimated 488 million Buddhists (7% of the world), while the 2025 report estimates 324 million (4.1%) for 2020, partly because Pew revised its methods. NESA's 2024 sample answer used the older style of figures. Quote one source consistently and name it.
• Measurement is hard. In China, Japan, Vietnam and other East Asian societies, Buddhism is intertwined with folk religion, so many people who practise Buddhist rituals do not formally identify as Buddhist. Jewish identity can be counted by religion or by ethnicity and descent, which gives different totals.

Christianity

• Size. About 2.3 billion people, 28.8% of the world, still the largest religious group. Numbers grew by 122 million from 2010 to 2020, but the share fell by 1.8 percentage points.
• Where. Christians are a majority in 120 countries and territories (down from 124 in 2010) and a majority in every region except Asia-Pacific and the Middle East-North Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is now home to the largest number of Christians (30.7% of the world's Christians), having overtaken Europe (22.3%). Latin America and the Caribbean hold about 24% and North America about 10%.
• Countries. The United States has more Christians than any other country, about one-tenth of the world's total (about 64% of Americans were Christian in 2020). Other large Christian populations include Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Nigeria.
• Denominations. Christianity's global spread means its branches have distinct centres: Catholicism is strongest in Latin America, southern Europe and the Philippines; Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe, Russia, Greece and Ethiopia; Protestant and Pentecostal churches are growing fastest in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Trend. Disaffiliation is the main cause of decline in share. On Pew's estimates Christians fell below half the population in the United Kingdom (49%), Australia (47%) and France (46%). (Australia's own 2021 Census recorded 43.9% Christian.)

Islam

• Size. About 2.0 billion people, 25.6% of the world, and the fastest-growing major religion: up 347 million from 2010 to 2020, more than all other religions combined.
• Where. 59% of Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region, which surprises many students who associate Islam mainly with the Middle East. Muslims are a majority in 53 countries, stretching from North and West Africa through the Middle East to Central, South and Southeast Asia.
• Countries. A third of all Muslims live in Indonesia (about 240 million, around 12% of the world's Muslims), Pakistan or India. India's 213 million Muslims are only 15% of its population, the one country in the top ten where Islam is not the majority religion.
• Branches. Sunni Muslims are the large majority worldwide; Shi'a Muslims are concentrated in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain, with significant communities in Lebanon, Pakistan and India.
• Trend. Growth is mainly natural increase: a young age structure and high fertility, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (369 million Muslims in 2020, up 34%) and South Asia. Muslims also grew fast in North America (5.9 million, up 52%) through migration.

Hinduism

• Size. About 1.2 billion people, 14.9% of the world; Hindus grew at the same rate as the world population, so their share held steady.
• Where. The most concentrated of the large traditions: 99% live in the Asia-Pacific region and about 95% (around 1.1 billion) in India, the birthplace of Hinduism.
• Majorities. Hindus are a majority only in Nepal (81%) and India (79%), and are the largest religious group in Mauritius.
• Diaspora. Significant Hindu communities live in Bangladesh, Indonesia (especially Bali), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, Fiji and the Caribbean, many descended from 19th-century indentured labour migration. Outside Asia-Pacific the United States has the largest number (about 3.0 million). In Australia, Hinduism was 2.7% of the population in the 2021 Census.

Buddhism

• Size. About 324 million people, 4.1% of the world. Buddhism was the only major tradition to decline in number from 2010 to 2020 (down 19 million), mainly because of falls in China (down 23 million) and Japan (down 7 million), where populations are ageing and some people have disaffiliated.
• Where. 98% of Buddhists live in the Asia-Pacific region. Theravada Buddhism predominates in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos; Mahayana in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam; Vajrayana in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia.
• Countries. Buddhists are a majority in seven countries: Cambodia (97%), Thailand (94%), Myanmar (89%), Bhutan (75%), Sri Lanka (70%), Laos (64%) and Mongolia (51%). On Pew's 2025 self-identification measure, Thailand has the largest number of Buddhists (68 million) and China the second largest (53 million, only 4% of China's population). Earlier estimates, used in the 2023 HSC answer key, placed the largest number in China.
• West. Buddhist numbers grew in North America (5.0 million, up 27%) and Europe (2.5 million, up 26%) through migration and conversion. Australia recorded 2.4% Buddhist in the 2021 Census.

Judaism

• Size. About 14.8 million people, 0.2% of the world. That is still fewer than the estimated 16.6 million Jews alive in 1939, before the Holocaust.
• Where. Highly concentrated: 45.9% live in the Middle East-North Africa region, almost all in Israel, and 41.2% in North America, mainly the United States. Israel is the only country with a Jewish majority; its Jewish population grew from 5.8 million to 6.8 million between 2010 and 2020 through natural increase and migration, making it the region with the most Jews.
• Other communities. Smaller communities live in France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Russia, Germany and Australia.
• History behind the pattern. The distribution reflects the Diaspora (dispersion) over many centuries, the Holocaust, and migration to the United States and to Israel after its founding in 1948.
• Measurement. Pew counts Israel's Jews from the population register and, elsewhere, people who identify with Judaism as a religion, which produces smaller totals than definitions based on descent or culture.

The religiously unaffiliated

Although not a religious tradition, the religiously unaffiliated ("nones") matter for context: 1.9 billion people, 24.2% of the world, up by 270 million and the only category other than Muslims to grow as a share. China has about 1.3 billion unaffiliated people (90% of its population). The unaffiliated became a majority in the Netherlands (54%), Uruguay (52%) and New Zealand (51%). This links directly to the non-religious worldviews studied later in Religion and Non-Religion.

Explaining the patterns

Strong answers go beyond "where" to "why":

1. History of expansion. Christianity spread through the Roman Empire, missionary activity and European colonisation; Islam through trade and expansion across Africa and Asia (for example, Islam reached Indonesia largely through traders and Sufi teachers); Buddhism along trade routes from India to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan.
2. Demography. Young, high-fertility populations (much of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia) grow fastest; ageing populations (Europe, East Asia) shrink.
3. Switching and disaffiliation. Movement out of religion, especially from Christianity and Buddhism, reshapes shares.
4. Migration. Post-war migration has made countries such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom multifaith.

In one sentence

Christianity (28.8%) and Islam (25.6%) are the world's largest traditions and are spread across many regions, while Hinduism (14.9%, about 95% in India), Buddhism (4.1%, 98% in Asia-Pacific) and Judaism (0.2%, mostly in Israel and North America) are more concentrated, and demography, disaffiliation and migration are reshaping the pattern.

Try this

Q1. Identify the country with the largest Muslim population and give ONE statistic. (2 marks)

• What the marker wants. Indonesia, with a figure such as about 240 million Muslims in 2020.

Q2. Describe the global distribution of Buddhism, using statistical data. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Size and share, concentration in Asia-Pacific, named majority countries with percentages, and the recent decline.

Q3. Explain why Islam is growing faster than Christianity as a share of the world's population. (5 marks)

• What the marker wants. Natural increase (young age structure, high fertility) versus disaffiliation from Christianity, with data.