Buddhism in the world is practiced by an estimated 488 million,[ 1] 495 million,[ 2] or 535 million[ 3] people as of the 2010s, representing 7% to 8% of the world's total population.
China is the country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 244 million or 18.2% of its total population.[ 1] They are mostly followers of Chinese schools of Mahayana , making this the largest body of Buddhist traditions. Mahayana, also practiced in broader East Asia , is followed by over half of world Buddhists.[ 1]
The second largest body of Buddhist schools is Theravada , mostly followed in Southeast Asia .[ 1] The third and smallest body of schools, Vajrayana , is followed mostly in Tibet , the Himalayan region , Mongolia and parts of Russia ,[ 1] but has been disseminated throughout the world.
According to a demographic analysis reported by Peter Harvey (2013):[ 3]
Eastern Buddhism (Mahayana ) has 360 million adherents;
Southern Buddhism (Theravada ) has 150 million adherents; and
Northern Buddhism (Vajrayana ) has 18.2 million adherents.
Seven million additional Buddhists are found outside Asia.
List of countries with largest Buddhist majority [ edit ]
There are 10 countries with the highest Buddhist percentage:
Buddhism by percentange as of 2010[ 1]
Country[ 4]
Estimated Buddhist population
% of total Buddhist in country
Cambodia
13,701,660
96.90 %
Thailand
64,419,840
93.20 %
Myanmar
38,415,960
80.10 %
Bhutan
563,000
74.70 %
Sri Lanka
14,455,980
69.30 %
Laos
4,092,000
66.00 %
Mongolia
1,520,760
55.10 %
Japan
84,653,000 or 45,807,480
67% or 36.2%[ 5]
Singapore
1,725,510
33.90 %
Taiwan
8,000,000 or 4,945,600
35% or 21.1%[ 6]
By country [ edit ]
Buddhism by country
Country/Territory
Population (2013)[ 7]
% Buddhist: 1. Pew , 2. ARDA .
Number of Buddhists
Afghanistan
24,108,077
Algeria
38,087,812
American Samoa
26,719
Angola
18,565,269
Argentina
42,610,981
Aruba
109,153
Australia
22,262,501
Austria
221,646
Bahamas
319,031
Bahrain
1,281,332
Bangladesh
159,654,860
Barbados
288,725
Belarus
9,625,888
Belgium
10,444,268
Belize
297
Bermuda
69,467
Bhutan
725,296
Bolivia
10,461,053
Botswana
2,127,825
Brazil
201,009,622
Brunei
415,717
Bulgaria
6,981,642
Burkina Faso
17,812,961
Burma (Myanmar)
55,167,330
Cambodia
15,205,539
Cameroon
20,549,221
Canada
34,568,211
Chad
11,193,452
Chile
17,216,945
China
1,349,585,838
Christmas Island
1,513
Colombia
45,745,783
Democratic Republic of the Congo
75,507,308
Republic of the Congo
4,492,689
Costa Rica
4,695,942
Côte d'Ivoire
22,400,835
Croatia
4,475,611
Cuba
11,394,043
Curaçao
146,836
Cyprus
1,155,403
Czech Republic
10,162,921
Denmark
5,556,452
Dominica
73,286
Dominican Republic
10,219,630
East Timor
1,172,390
Ecuador
15,439,429
Egypt
85,294,388
El Salvador
6,108,590
Estonia
1,266,375
Ethiopia
93,877,025
Falkland Islands
3,140
Federated States of Micronesia
106,104
Fiji
896,758
Finland
5,266,114
France
65,951,611
French Guiana
239,450
French Polynesia
277,293
Germany
81,147,265
Ghana
22,931,299
Greece
10,772,967
Guam
160,378
Guatemala
14,373,472
Guinea
11,176,026
Guyana
739,903
Haiti
9,893,934
Honduras
8,448,465
Hong Kong
7,182,724
Hungary
9,939,470
Iceland
315,281
India
1,220,800,359
Indonesia
251,160,124
Iran
79,853,900
Iraq
31,858,481
Ireland
4,775,982
Israel
7,707,042
Italy
61,482,297
Jamaica
2,909,714
Japan
127,253,075
Jordan
6,482,081
Kazakhstan
17,736,896
Kenya
44,037,656
North Korea
24,720,407
South Korea
48,955,203
Kuwait
2,695,316
Kyrgyzstan
5,548,042
Laos
6,695,166
Latvia
2,178,443
Lebanon
4,131,583
Lesotho
1,936,181
Liberia
3,989,703
Libya
6,002,347
Liechtenstein
37,009
Lithuania
3,515,858
Luxembourg
514,862
Macau
583,003
Macedonia
2,087,171
Madagascar
22,599,098
Malawi
16,777,547
Malaysia
29,628,392
Maldives
393,988
Mali
15,968,882
Malta
411,277
Martinique
403,795
Mauritius
1,322,238
Mexico
116,220,947
Mongolia
3,226,516
Montenegro
653,474
Morocco
32,649,130
Mozambique
24,096,669
Namibia
2,182,852
Nauru
9,434
Nepal
30,430,267
Netherlands
16,805,037
New Caledonia
264,022
New Zealand
4,365,113
Nicaragua
5,788,531
Nigeria
174,507,539
Northern Mariana Islands
51,170
Norway
4,722,701
Oman
3,154,134
Pakistan
193,238,868
Palau
21,108
Palestine
4,293,313
Panama
3,559,408
Papua New Guinea
6,431,902
Paraguay
6,623,252
Peru
29,849,303
Philippines
98,215,000
Poland
38,383,809
Portugal
10,799,270
Puerto Rico
3,674,209
Qatar
2,042,444
Réunion
839,500
Romania
21,790,479
Russia
142,500,482
Saudi Arabia
26,939,583
Senegal
12,521,851
Serbia
10,150,265
Seychelles
90,846
Sierra Leone
5,612,685
Singapore
5,460,302
Slovakia
5,488,339
Slovenia
1,992,690
Solomon Islands
597,248
South Africa
48,601,098
Spain
47,370,542
Sri Lanka
21,675,648
Sudan
34,847,910
Suriname
566,846
Swaziland
1,403,362
Sweden
9,119,423
Switzerland
7,996,026
Taiwan
23,299,716
Tajikistan
7,910,041
Tanzania
48,261,942
Thailand
67,448,120
Togo
7,154,237
Tonga
106,322
Tunisia
10,835,873
Trinidad and Tobago
1,225,225
Turkey
80,694,485
Turkmenistan
5,113,040
Tuvalu
10,698
Uganda
34,758,809
Ukraine
44,573,205
United Arab Emirates
5,473,972
United Kingdom
63,395,574
United States
316,668,567
Uruguay
3,324,460
US Virgin Islands
104,737
Uzbekistan
28,661,637
Vanuatu
261,565
Venezuela
28,459,085
Vietnam
92,477,857
Yemen
25,408,288
Zambia
14,222,233
Zimbabwe
13,182,908
TOTAL
7,095,217,980
Pew: 7.1%
Pew: 487,540,000
By region [ edit ]
Buddhism by region in 2010[ 1]
Region
Estimated total population
Estimated Buddhist population
%
Asia-Pacific
4,054,990,000
481,290,000
11.9%
North America
344,530,000
3,860,000
1.1%
Europe
742,550,000
1,330,000
0.2%
Middle East -North Africa
341,020,000
500,000
0.1%
Latin America -Caribbean
590,080,000
410,000
<0.1%
Total
6,895,890,000
487,540,000
7.1%
Ten countries with the largest Buddhist populations [ edit ]
Countries with the largest Buddhist populations as of 2010[ 1]
Country
Estimated Buddhist population
% of the total population of the country
% of world Buddhist population
China
244,130,000
18.2%
46.4%
Japan [ 8]
84,653,000
67%
16.1%
Thailand
64,420,000
93.2%
12.2%
Myanmar
38,410,000
80.1%
7.3%
Sri Lanka
14,450,000
69.3%
2.8%
Vietnam
14,380,000
16.4%
2.7%
Cambodia
13,690,000
96.9%
2.9%
South Korea
11,050,000
22.9%
2.1%
India
9,250,000
0.8%
1.8%
Malaysia
5,010,000
17.7%
1%
Subtotal for the ten countries
499,465,520
18.1%
94.9%
Subtotal for the rest of the world
26,920,000
0.7%
5.1%
World total
526,373,000
7.3%
100%
note : Exact number of followers when calculating Buddhists varies because Buddhism is often mixed with the native East Asian religions in their respective countries for example in Japan the number of Buddhists when calculating including the Shintoists would ramp the percentage of Buddhists in Japan from 67% to >98%.
See also [ edit ]
Other religions:
General:
External links [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
^ a b c d e f g h Pew Research Center , Global Religious Landscape: Buddhists .
^ Johnson, Todd M.; Grim, Brian J. (2013). The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography (PDF) . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 34–37. Retrieved 2 September 2013 .
^ a b Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 5. ISBN 9780521676748 . Retrieved 2 September 2013 .
^ Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life (December 2012), The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010 (PDF) , Pew Research Center, retrieved 9 October 2013
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ CIA's The World Factbook : Populations as of July 2013
^ [3]
Buddhism by country
Sovereign states
States with limited
recognition
Buddhism in North America
Sovereign states
Dependencies and
other territories