The World by Religion

January 2010 T World Religion Database (WRD) is part of a most impressive data-collection project, requiring an extraordinary number of hours to create. The WRD can and will be improved over time, but we can only thank the editors now for their extremely valuable service, including their work of overseeing hundreds of people behind the scenes gathering the data. Although based on the World Christian Encyclopedia (WCE, 1982; 2d ed., 2001), WRD goes beyond it in several important ways. First, for those interested in statistical research, WRD data are downloadable as Excel® files. Second, for many countries in the data set, WRD lists censuses and surveys that give alternate estimates of religious distribution. This is extremely helpful, since it allows scholars to compare WRD estimates with those of others and to evaluate the quality of data used to estimate religious distribution in particular countries. Third, WRD provides data on more countries, regions, and time periods than does any other source. Fourth, WRD provides incredibly detailed data. Previous versions had data at the national level, but WRD presents it World Religion Database: Impressive—but Improvable

This chapter presents tables that represent the results of analysis of data on religion appearing in the World Religion Database . These data are collected from a number of sources including censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and others. After data collection and analysis, discrepancies are worked out and best estimates are made for each religion across a number of years. Results are presented for religionists and nonreligionists as a whole as well as for each religious and non-religious category. One of the tables lists the world's population in 1970, 2000, 2013, and 2030 with two separate 30-year growth rates (1970-2000 and 2000-2030) for comparison with data presented in the religion and nonreligion tables. Keywords: religion; World Religion Database; world's population

The following tables represent the results of analysis of data on religion for all of the countries of the world which appear in the World Religion Database (Johnson and Grim 2008). These data are collected at the national level from a number of sources including censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and others.

The following tables represent the results of analysis of data on religion for all of the countries of the world which appear in the World Religion Database (Johnson and Grim 2008). These data are collected at the national level from a number of sources including censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and others.

The following tables represent the results of analysis of data on religion for all of the countries of the world which appear in the World Religion Database (Johnson and Grim 2008). These data are collected at the national level from a number of sources including censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and others.

The following article represents the results of analysis of data on religion for all of the countries of the world which appear in the World Religion Database (Johnson and Grim 2022). The data contained are collected at the national level from a number of sources including censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and others.

International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 34, No. 1 T World Religion Database (WRD) is exactly what its name implies—it covers every country of the world, it focuses on religions, and it is a most incredible database. The amount of work that has gone into producing such a prodigious assembly of facts about every country is enormous, and the editors must be thanked for their diligence, perseverance, and sheer dedication to a mammoth project that can only become more and more useful as time goes by, assuming it is kept up-to-date with the same diligence and resources that have gone into its initial framing. The WRD is based on David Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia (WCE; Oxford Univ. Press, 1982; 2d ed., 2001). It exceeds the WCE, having been updated and extended in many useful ways. Todd Johnson, the lead editor of WRD, has done a brilliant job in making the WCE accessible in a modern format and deserves huge plaudits for so doing. The WRD is a truly remarkable resource for researchers, Christian workers, church leaders, religious academics, and any others wanting to see how the various religions of the world impact both the global and the local scenes. It is always easy to criticize any grand compilation of statistical material by looking at the detail in one particular corner and declaring, “That number doesn’t seem right.” The sheer scope of this database, however, is incredible, and the fact that it exists and can be extended even further and updated as time goes forward in the framework of a respected university deserves huge applause for those responsible for it. Praise where praise is due, even if I am about to critique it. Most researchers coming to a world database would presumably look first at their own nation. Immediately a problem—mine is not listed. There is no United Kingdom (UK) in the WRD. The UK is composed of four countries, but they are not separately listed either, so I cannot look up, say, England. We sometimes talk of Great Britain, but that is not listed either. Ah, I have it—we are called Britain in the WRD. Why? That is not our name. America is not listed under “America” (despite what many people call it) but under its proper title of United States. Why is the UK treated differently? World Religion Database: Detail Beyond Belief!

The academic field of religious demography is in the early stages of development. Although there are thousands of sources for international religious demography, ranging from censuses and demographic surveys to statistics collected and reported by religious groups themselves, little has been done by scholars in religion, sociology, or other disciplines to collect, collate, and analyze these data over the past decades. Secondary sources for religious demography, such as Wikipedia or the CIA Factbook, are woefully inadequate and riddled with contradictions and errors. Despite these problems in handling and interpreting religious data, international religious demography is a growing field of study. In the past twenty-five years, an enormous amount of data has been collected and analyzed. New sources of information include government censuses, surveys and polls, records kept by religious communities, scholarly monographs, and Roman Catholic Church and religion yearbooks and handbooks. This article, which looks at sources and methodology related to international religious demography, also discusses the evolution of the World Christian Database and the World Religion Database.

Numerous solutions have been proposed to slow the accelerating loss of biodiversity. Thinking about biodiversity conservation has not, however, been incorporated into the everyday activities of most individuals and nations. Conservation scientists need to refocus on strategies that reshape ethical attitudes to nature and encourage pro-environmental thinking and lifestyles. Religions are central to basic beliefs and ethics that influence people's behaviour and should be considered more seriously in biodiversity discourse. Using data from the World Religion Database we conducted an analysis of the spatial overlap between major global religions and seven templates for prioritizing biodiversity action. Our analysis indicated that the majority of these focal areas are situated in countries dominated by Christianity, and particularly the Roman Catholic denomination. Moreover, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches appear to have the greatest per capita opportunity to influence discourse on biodiversity, notwithstanding the role of other religious communities in some key biodiversity areas.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is an heterogeneous country wherein ethnicity and religious adherence overlap. The scope of this work is based on the study of religious communities of various religious and cultural backgrounds that exist and function in post-war BiH. As there are insufficient comprehensive studies on this complex subject, this article examines the role religion plays in social and political life in post-war BiH by focusing on the way it is employed by the religious communities that have been working actively in this field. A diversification of BiH’s religious scene emerged with the collapse of Communism and dissolution of Yugoslavia, especially during the 1992–1995 war and in the first couple of years after signing the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995. Hence, this research primarily addresses the questions regarding the formation of new religious communities, their roles within society, the overall impact on the religious market as well as the citizens’ and experts’ perceptions of this. This article is based on analysis of the data collected using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Quantitative data was collected using a close-ended questionnaire that consisted of 38 questions based on dichotomous scales (e.g., yes/no) and Likert five-point scales, conducted with experts in the field and religious officials (clerks, priests and imams) from the different religious communities that exist in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The qualitative research approach is based on grounded theory using secondary and primary data collection tools.

Child Rights Organizations and Religious Communities: Powerful Partnerships for Children1 Stephen Hanmer The instinct to care for children comes from deep within the teachings and spiritual vision of all religious traditions, which motivates people of faith to make the commitment to take practical actions for children. Fulfilling these commitments requires the collaborations of religious communities with each other, and with other partners, because these challenges cut across all religions and are too great for any one group to handle alone.3 Religious communities play a key role for the care and protection of children and have been a key partner to the work of many child rights organizations. Throughout the world, child rights organizations, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are working with religious communities of all faiths to address the well‐being of children in areas ranging from health care and education to HIV and AIDS to protection from exploitation and abuse. This article explains why it is important for child rights organizations to work with religious communities, provides examples of successful work with religious communities (in particular UNICEF’s work with religious communities), discusses the main challenges of such partnerships and proposes what can be carried out to further effective engagement. In this article, religious communities refers to both men and women religious actors and structures within religious traditions and organizations at all levels—from local to global. These include grassroots and local communities, leaders, scholars, practitioners, youth groups, women of faith networks, faith‐based organizations and denominational, ecumenical and intra‐religious umbrella organizations, and networks.4 Why partner with religious communities? As the United Nations Children’s agency responsible for promoting the care, protection, and rights of children all over the world, UNICEF works in all types of contexts and in areas ranging from health to nutrition, water and sanitation, to education, HIV and AIDs, and protection of children from violence, exploitation, and abuse. Partnerships with key actors, such as civil society, and government, are a central feature of UNICEF’s efforts to promote the rights of children. Indeed, it has long been recognized at UNICEF, as it has throughout the United Nations, that achieving the Millennium Development Goals depends on working in partnership with all sectors of society. Key among these essential partners is religious communities. With their extraordinary moral authority and power, religious communities are able to influence thinking, foster dialogue, and set priorities for members of their communities. As those who are often the first to respond to problems, religious communities have the trust and confidence of individuals, families, and communities.5 From the smallest villages to the largest cities, and from districts and provinces to national and international levels, religious communities offer large networks for the care and protection of children and the safeguarding of their rights. The role of religious communities tends to be especially important at the family and community levels, which international organizations and governments are generally less able to reach effectively.6 With almost five billion people belonging to religious communities, the potential for action is substantial. Child rights organizations, including UNICEF, are guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most comprehensive legal instrument for the protection of the rights of the child. There is often a misperception that the language of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is contrary to religious beliefs. But the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and ratified more quickly and widely than any other human rights instrument, was not created in a vacuum: The Convention on the Rights of the Child reflects a vision of children in which children are social actors, members of a family and a community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to their age and stage of development. This holistic vision of the child, as well as the principles of justice, humanity and dignity articulated in the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, corresponds with the visions and principles of the world’s religious traditions. As a universal statement of consensus about how children should be treated, the Convention on the Rights of the Child...

We reviewed and summarized the efforts in the United States to collect data on oral diseases, conditions, and behaviors implemented at the national and state level. The main characteristics of these efforts were: (1) systematic collection of data from representative samples, mostly at the national level; (2) one-time or sporadic experiences when data are collected at state and local levels; (3) use of visual-tactile protocols implemented at the tooth-surface or tooth-site level for data collection; (4) focus mainly on dental caries and periodontal diseases; and (5) leap-time from data collection to publication of results. Using the definition of surveillance in public health (the ongoing and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data for use in planning, implementing, and evaluating public health practice), we show there is an impending need to develop new techniques to build up surveillance systems for oral diseases, conditions, and behaviors at the national, state, and local levels. In the second part of this review, we presented a number of alternative techniques developed in the last 10 years to collect timely data for oral health. The main characteristics of these efforts include: (1) focusing on data collection at state and local level; (2) integration into existing and ongoing surveillance systems; (3) using visual-only protocols to collect data on oral disease status; (4) focusing on a variety of diseases, conditions, and behaviors; and (5) analyzing the data in a timely matter. Many of these efforts have been integrated into the National Oral Health Surveillance System, which has developed eight indicators in response to national health objectives. Finally, we envision the future of visual-tactile protocols in data collection of representative samples to monitor oral health status at the national level and as a research tool. At the state and local level, however, we envision an integrated system of data collection as a constantly evolving process as new techniques are developed in response to new demands.

Objectives The aim of the present study was to assess the extent to which publicly available legislation, policy and guidelines related to breastfeeding and the Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) underpin and support the uptake and implementation of the BFHI in Australia. Methods Altheide's document analysis model (sample, data collection, data organisation, data analysis and report) was used to source and analyse publicly available legislation, policies and guidelines in Australia that were related to breastfeeding and the BFHI at national, state and professional organisational levels. Results Legislation documents contained no direct references to the BFHI or Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, despite the documents being supportive of breastfeeding. There is little reference to the Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes or to monitoring of the Marketing in Australia of Infant Formulae (MAIF) Agreement at national and state levels. A gap exists in documents that provide up-to-date records regarding monitoring of breastfeeding rates at the national level. Conclusions National and state guidelines are supportive of breastfeeding and the BFHI. However, the BFHI and Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes are not legislated in Australia and information related to breastfeeding rates is not up to date. A legislative establishment supporting the Code and establishing plans to monitor the MAIF Agreement and breastfeeding outcomes may influence uptake and implementation of the BFHI. What is known about the topic? Extensive evidence supports the health and economic benefits of breastfeeding. Despite a high initiation rate of breastfeeding in Australia (96%) most recently reported in 2010, the rate of breastfed infants dropped considerably over time: approximately 15% of infants were breastfed for the recommended 6 months. Research supports the positive effect of the BFHI on increasing breastfeeding rates and improving breastfeeding outcomes. In 2016, there are 69 Baby-friendly-accredited maternity facilities across Australia, compared with 77 accredited facilities in 2011 (~23% of all maternity facilities). What does this paper add? This is the first document analysis of publicly available legislation, policy and guidelines related to breastfeeding and the BFHI at Australian national, state and professional organisational levels to assess the extent to which these documents support breastfeeding, as well as the uptake and implementation of the BFHI. This study identifies strengths and weaknesses at legislative, policy and guideline levels that could potentially influence the uptake and implementation of the BFHI. What are the implications for practitioners? The uptake and implementation of the BFHI is potentially influenced by legislation, policy and guidelines at national and state levels. Given the low uptake of the BFHI in Australia, this analysis outlines the extent to which these documents support breastfeeding and the BFHI, and indicates what these documents lack with regard to supporting the uptake and implementation of the BFHI.

Religious tolerance is a key value in multicultural societies, and schools are often a suitable place to build understanding and respect for diverse religious beliefs. In the context of education, Islamic Religious Education has an important role in shaping attitudes of tolerance between religious communities. This research aims to develop an effective Islamic Religious Education learning strategy in shaping the character of religious tolerance. This involves curriculum development, teaching methods, and relevant approaches. This study used a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological approach. The methodology of this research involved distributing a prepared questionnaire regarding inter-religious tolerance attitudes in elementary schools. Involving surveys, interviews, observations, documentation, and data analysis then providing a detailed description of the data collected. The steps in conducting research with a phenomenological approach, namely determining the location and individuals, data collection techniques, data recording procedures, field issues, and data storage stages. The results of this study show that (1) the curriculum design integrates tolerance values. (2) educators consistently incorporate teachings about toleration between religious groups into their teaching materials (3) educators serve as role models by symbolizing a tolerant lifestyle, and (4) organize significant religious events and community activities to further promote tolerance.

The purpose of this study was to determine the religious life of the people of the city of Pontianak and to know the attitude of tolerance between religious communities in the Muslim minority environment in the people of the city of Pontianak and the views of Islamic morality on religious tolerance. Some of the objects in this study are: The living conditions of religious people in Pontianak City, West Kalimantan, Moderate forms of tolerance between religious communities in Pontinak City, West Kalimantan, Attitudes of moderation and tolerance values ​​between religious communities in creating harmony in Pontianak City, West Kalimantan. This study aims to measure the level of understanding of the values ​​of moderation and tolerance between religious communities in creating harmony in Pontianak City, West Kalimantan. The method chosen in this research is quantitative research methods, which can be interpreted as research methods based on the philosophy of positivism, used to examine certain populations or samples, sampling techniques are generally carried out randomly, data collection using research instruments, data analysis is quantitative. The operational definition of the variable in this study is the level of understanding of the population and leaders regarding the attitudes of values ​​of moderation and tolerance between religious communities in creating harmony in Pontianak City. The level of understanding that is measured: First, the attitude of values ​​of moderation and religious tolerance in the field of Aqidah including: not insulting or damaging other religious symbols, such as: holy books, places of worship, and symbols that are religious accessories; Second, the values ​​of moderation and religious tolerance in the field of worship, including: allowing other people to worship in peace; Third, the attitude of values ​​of moderation and religious tolerance in the field of Mu'amalah, including: Be fair in all worldly transactions, such as buying and selling, not discriminating in service when becoming a seller or not buying monopoly to fellow Muslims only when becoming a buyer with the intent to shutting down the efforts of non-Muslims and fourthly, religious moderation in the field of morals, including: being polite, such as if passing non-Muslims, excuse me, if there are non-Muslims who need help on the road, we will help, speak well when talking to non-Muslims