Resources

Religious Statistics

Religious factors tend to be difficult to measure and warrant careful scrutiny, especially when comparing data from different sources or across different religions. Below are links to various online providers of religious statistics. Religionsource neither endorses nor rejects any provider.

• Numbers of Religious Adherents
• Other Religion Data

Numbers of Religious Adherents

Adherents.com: over 43,000 statistics involving 4,200 religions worldwide, collected by Preston Hunter, a computer programmer, to "satisfy my own curiosity."

American Religious Identification Survey: a random survey of 50,000 people in the US asking them their religion. Done in 1990 and 2001 and directed by City University of New York, the survey breaks out results by marital status, age, gender, race and ethnicity, political party preference and US state.

Association of Religion Data Archives: provides "statistical and descriptive profiles of nations and regions around the world," including figures on adherents of various religions. ARDA is located at Penn State University and is supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. and the John Templeton Foundation.

Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies: annual membership statistics for about twenty-five Christian denominations, with statistics for some broken out by race.

The Pluralism Project: a Harvard University project documenting the changing religious landscape of the US. This page summarizes estimates made in recent years on the numbers of US adherents of the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Jewish, Pagan, Sikh and Zoroastrian traditions.

U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: a landmark report released in 2008 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. This nationwide survey, conducted in 2007 and based on interviews with more than 35,000 adults, details the religious affiliation of the American public. It also describes and analyzes the changes in religious affiliation based on various demographic factors such as ethnicity, age, gender, educational level, income level and more. Extensive online tools allow you to explore the data in detail.

World Christian Database: provided by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an evangelical Christian institution. Includes statistics on 9,000 Christian denominations and on religions in every country of the world, with much of the data broken out by ethnic group and by province and city.

Other Religion Data

American Jewish Identify Study: a survey of those who adhere to Judaism and of those who describe themselves as Jewish without any explicit adherence to Judaism. The study was conducted by the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and is based on 3,000 phone interviews in 2001.

American Muslim Poll (requires PDF): a random survey, conducted in 2004, of over 1,800 Muslims in America, covering demographics, voting habits, political opinions, participation in mainstream American life, religious practice and the impact of September 11. The survey is a project of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.

Association of Religion Data Archives: provides "statistical and descriptive profiles of nations and regions around the world," including figures on adherents of various religions. ARDA is located at Penn State University and is supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. and the John Templeton Foundation.

Barna Research Online: this marketing research company frequently issues statistics "regarding cultural trends and the Christian Church." The company is explicitly pro-Christian.

Baylor Survey of Religion: a 2005 survey of more than 1,700 respondents with questions on religious beliefs, church attendance, prayer, attitudes toward God, and politics. The survey was funded by the John Templeton Foundation and conducted by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion and department of sociology.

Database of Megachurches in the United States: a current compilation by Hartford Seminary. The site allows you to sort online by church name, state location and denominational affiliation.

Detroit Arab American Study: a 2003 University of Michigan survey of the Arab and Chaldean communities in Detroit on the impact of September 11 on them.

Evangelical Views of Islam: a survey from a national sample of evangelical leaders, which was conducted in fall 2002 by the Bliss Institute of the University of Akron, as part of a larger study directed by the Ethics and Public Policy Center and supported with a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Exploring Religious America: a 2002 US News & World Report and PBS "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" survey of 2,000 adults in the US.

Faith Communities Today: a comprehensive Hartford Seminary survey in the year 2000 of 14,000 congregations including 41 denominations and faith groups—US churches, synagogues, mosques and other bodies.

Hispanic Churches in American Public Life: Summary of Findings (requires PDF): an interim report released January 2003 by the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life research project, a 3-year study, supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, to examine the "impact of religion on political and civic engagement in the Latino community."

National Congregations Study: a University of Arizona survey in 1998 of 1,236 congregations regarding their social composition, structure, activities and programming. The site allows you to manipulate the data online.

National Election Studies: searchable online data, in some cases going back five decades, from surveys of the American electorate in presidential and midterm election years. The studies were funded by the National Science Foundation. The data includes questions about religion.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Surveys: surveys on a variety of topics concerning the role of religion in American public life. Survey topics include politics, stem cell research, Islam, gay marriage, abortion, moral values, poverty, evolution, and many more. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life is a project of the Pew Research Center, a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Pew Internet Project: Faith Online (requires PDF): a 2004 survey-based study on how people use the Internet for religious or spiritual purposes. The study was conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, an initiative of The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Surveys: surveys from 1987 to today on a variety of topics, including business and economics, domestic policy and social issues, foreign policy, global attitudes and politics. Surveys may be sorted by topic and year. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press is a project of the Pew Research Center, a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Religion Matters: Predicting Schooling Success in Latino Youth (requires PDF): an interim report, supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, released January 2003 by the Center for the Study of Latino Religion, a center within the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The report examines “what role, if any, religion plays in the academic success or failure of Latino youth.”

Religious Beliefs and Substance Use among Youths Aged 12 to 17: results from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.