1. The Global Distribution of the Five Major Religions
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Hinduism
Buddhism
© Karen Devine 2008

2. Christianity The largest world religion is Christianity.
Over 1/3 of the population of the world is Christian in the following denominations:
Catholic
Orthodox
Anglican
Methodist
Presbyterian
Baptist
Seventh Day Adventist

3. Christianity Christians are found on every continent.
The central belief for Christians is a faith in Jesus the Christ.
Yet, there are vast differences in the expression of faith.

4. Islam The second largest world religion is Islam.
Nearly ¼ of the world’s population is Muslim.
The major centres for Islam are the Middle East and Northern Africa.
In modern times it has spread to South East Asia.
Indonesia is the largest Islamic country.

5. Hinduism Hinduism accounts for 1/7th of the world’s believers.
Hinduism is largely concentrated in India and spreads only when Indians migrate.

6. Buddhism
Buddhism has a smaller world population than Hinduism, yet has penetrated into more parts of the world.

7. Judaism
Judaism is the smallest of the world’s major religions and accounts for 0.5% of the world’s population.
Jews are found in every country of the world.

8. Atheists
In modern times there are increasing numbers of people who claim to be atheists.
Atheists amount to over 4% of the world’s population.
There has been a large decline in the numbers of people belonging to traditional faiths.

9. Question Time
Why has Hinduism not spread throughout the world as much as the other major religions?