Churches and synagogues in many countries complain of declining membership numbers. In Europe in particular, this trend has noticeably increased over the last 30 years. Decline in religious affiliations In the course of secularisation there are increasingly stronger counter-movements and withdrawals from religious communities. From this time grave goods and cave paintings were found, which suggest the worship of the supernatural. The oldest religions date back to the Middle Palaeolithic, which dates back about 120,000 years. Due to their non-existent deity, these religions are often also called world views. Also numerous other Asian religions are based on such a philosophical teaching. For example, Buddhism does not know a god, but orients itself towards an 'awakened' human being by trying to awaken oneself through meditation and ethical behaviour. The worship of a deity is not important here. Prophets or shamans often act as mediators or 'diplomats' between humans and supernatural beings.

In most religions these are one or more gods or at least holy beings like souls, ancestors or spirits. Characteristics of Deities Religion is a collective term which at first only states that its followers believe in something supernatural and supersensual. Here the concept of the world religion is used as subdivision into separately directed or interpreted religions, whereby also in the development phase the origins clearly differ from others. In fact, all 4 religions go back to the monotheistic faith in progenitor Abraham. Also in today's Christianity there are striking similarities with Islam, Judaism or Yazidism. For example, the gods of Greek and Roman mythology have many things in common. Already here, the question arises what one regards as independent in a religion. Roughly speaking, it divides different faiths into independent religions. Similarly, the UK is shown as Protestant Christianity even though weekly church attendance is in the single digits.Definition of 'world religions' The term is not clearly defined. So, for example, The Netherlands is shown as steel blue (mixed Catholic and Protestant) even though the largest group in the country are NOTAs (persons NOT Affiliated with any organized religion). This map shows the most popular organized religion in each country of the world. Geographical distribution of prevailing organized religions throughout the world: The perceived percentage of Christians in the U.S. In definitions between conservative Christians and the rest of theĬhristian faith groups in the U.S. Using this definition, only aboutģ5% of Americans would be counted as Christians. For example, manyĬonservative Christians believe that one has to be ' born again' Religious groups have much more strict definitions for membership. number is gradually declining about 1 percentage point per year, even though the total population of the U.S. Particular religion if they say that they are of that faith. These data are often based on census or public opinion data. Included is the name of the religion, the approximate date of its origin, itsĮthical texts (if any) and its estimated numerical strength (both in absolute numbers andĪs a percentage of the world's population.) Most people in the world follow one of the religions listed in the table below. Independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big 34,000 separateĬhristian groups have been identified in the world. Total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. Geographical distribution, date founded, andĪccording to David Barrett et al, editors of the ' WorldĬhristian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - ADģ0 to 2200,' there are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a Religions of the world Numbers of adherents of major religions, their Religions of the world: numbers of adherents growth rates

Religion percentages