The CIA World Factbook Edition 2016 People and Society
Religions In 36 editions of 36.
Religions was published in 36 editions of the CIA World Factbook, from 1990 to 2025. The 2016 edition carries it in 238 entries, in its People and Society section. Every entry is shown as that edition published it.
- entries in the 2016 edition
- 238
- the first edition with it
- 1990
- the latest edition with it
- 2025
Published as “Religions” (1992 to 2025) and “Religion” (1990 to 1991).
the entry has the field in that editionnot in that editionthe open editionEach entry below ends in its editions with Religions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down; choose one in a row to read that edition’s text there.
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Entries with Religions in each edition
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World
1 entryAfrica
56 entriesAlgeria
Muslim (official; predominantly Sunni) 99%, other (includes Christian and Jewish) <1% (2012 est.)
Central African Republic
note: animistic beliefs and practices strongly influence the Christian majority
Cote D'Ivoire now Cote d'Ivoire
note: the majority of foreign migrant workers are Muslim (72%) and Christian (18%) (2014 est.)
Egypt
Muslim (predominantly Sunni) 90%, Christian (majority Coptic Orthodox, other Christians include Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, Maronite, Orthodox, and Anglican) 10% (2012 est.)
Libya
Muslim (official; virtually all Sunni) 96.6%, Christian 2.7%, Buddhist 0.3%, Hindu <0.1, Jewish <0.1, folk religion <0.1, unafilliated 0.2%, other <0.1
note: non-Sunni Muslims include native Ibadhi Muslims (<1% of the population) and foreign Muslims (2010 est.)
Madagascar
- Christian,
- indigenous believer,
- Muslim
note: population largely practices Christianity or an indigenous religion; small share of population is Muslim
Morocco
Muslim 99% (official; virtually all Sunni, <0.1% Shia), other 1% (includes Christian, Jewish, and Baha'i); note - Jewish about 6,000 (2010 est.)
Saint Helena, Ascension, And Tristan Da Cunha now Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha
note: data represent Saint Helena only (2016 est.)
Tunisia
Muslim (official; Sunni) 99.1%, other (includes Christian, Jewish, Shia Muslim, and Baha'i) 1%
Arctic Region
2 entriesAsia
22 entriesAzerbaijan
Muslim 96.9% (predominantly Shia), Christian 3%, other <0.1, unaffiliated <0.1 (2010 est.)
note: religious affiliation is still nominal in Azerbaijan; percentages for actual practicing adherents are much lower
Japan
note: total adherents exceeds 100% because many people practice both Shintoism and Buddhism (2012 est.)
Korea, North now North Korea
traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom
Pakistan
Muslim (official) 96.4% (Sunni 85-90%, Shia 10-15%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 3.6% (2010 est.)
Russia
- Russian Orthodox 15-20%,
- Muslim 10-15%,
- other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule; Russia officially recognizes Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism as traditional religions
Central America and the Caribbean
32 entriesEurope
49 entriesAlbania
note: all mosques and churches were closed in 1967 and religious observances prohibited; in November 1990, Albania began allowing private religious practice (2011 est.)
France
- Christian (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic) 63-66%,
- Muslim 7-9%,
- Buddhist 0.5-0.75%,
- Jewish 0.5-0.75%,
- other 0.5-1.0%,
- none 23-28%
note: France maintains a tradition of secularism and has not officially collected data on religious affiliation since the 1872 national census, which complicates assessments of France's religious composition; an 1872 law prohibiting state authorities from collecting data on individuals' ethnicity or religious beliefs was reaffirmed by a 1978 law emphasizing the prohibition of the collection or exploitation of personal data revealing an individual's race, ethnicity, or political, philosophical, or religious opinions; a 1905 law codified France's separation of church and state (2015 est.)
Isle Of Man now Isle of Man
Protestant (Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Society of Friends), Roman Catholic
Italy
- Christian 80% (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic with very small groups of Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants),
- Muslim (about 800,000 to 1 million),
- atheist and agnostic 20%
Jersey
Protestant (Anglican, Baptist, Congregational New Church, Methodist, Presbyterian), Roman Catholic
Sweden
Lutheran 87%, other (includes Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist) 13%
Ukraine
Orthodox (includes Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox (UAOC), Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish
note: Ukraine's population is overwhelmingly Christian; the vast majority - up to two-thirds - identify themselves as Orthodox, but many do not specify a particular branch; the UOC-KP and the UOC-MP each represent less than a quarter of the country's population, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church accounts for 8-10%, and the UAOC accounts for 1-2%; Muslim and Jewish adherents each compose less than 1% of the total population (2013 est.)
Middle East
17 entriesBahrain
Muslim 70.3%, Christian 14.5%, Hindu 9.8%, Buddhist 2.5%, Jewish 0.6%, folk religion <.1, unaffiliated 1.9%, other 0.2% (2010 est.)
Gaza Strip
- Muslim 98.0 - 99.0% (predominantly Sunni),
- Christian <1.0%,
- other,
- unaffiliated,
- unspecified <1.0%
note: dismantlement of Israeli settlements was completed in September 2005; Gaza has had no Jewish population since then (2012 est.)
Iraq
Muslim (official) 99% (Shia 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian 0.8%, Hindu <0.1, Buddhist <0.1, Jewish <0.1, folk religion <0.1, unafilliated 0.1, other <0.1
note: while there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, recent reporting indicates that the overall Christian population may have dropped by as much as 50 percent since the fall of the SADDAM Husayn regime in 2003, with many fleeing to Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon (2010 est.)
Jordan
Muslim 97.2% (official; predominantly Sunni), Christian 2.2% (majority Greek Orthodox, but some Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant denominations), Buddhist 0.4%, Hindu 0.1%, Jewish <0.1, folk religionist <0.1, unaffiliated <0.1, other <0.1 (2010 est.)
Kuwait
note: represents the total population; about 69% of the population consists of immigrants (2013 est.)
Lebanon
Muslim 54% (27% Sunni, 27% Shia), Christian 40.5% (includes 21% Maronite Catholic, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Greek Catholic, 6.5% other Christian), Druze 5.6%, very small numbers of Jews, Baha'is, Buddhists, Hindus, and Mormons
note: 18 religious sects recognized (2012 est.)
Oman
Muslim (official; majority are Ibadhi, lesser numbers of Sunni and Shia) 85.9%, Christian 6.5%, Hindu 5.5%, Buddhist 0.8%, Jewish <0.1, other 1%, unaffiliated 0.2% (2010 est.)
note: approximately 75% of Omani citizens, who compose almost 70% of the country's total population, are Ibadhi Muslims; the Omani government does not keep statistics on religious affiliation (2013)
Saudi Arabia
Muslim (official; citizens are 85-90% Sunni and 10-15% Shia), other (includes Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh) (2012 est.)
note: despite having a large expatriate community of various faiths (more than 30% of the population), most forms of public religious expression inconsistent with the government-sanctioned interpretation of Sunni Islam are restricted; non-Muslims are not allowed to have Saudi citizenship and non-Muslim places of worship are not permitted (2013)
Syria
- Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%),
- Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian),
- Druze 3%,
- Jewish (few remaining in Damascus and Aleppo)
United Arab Emirates
note: represents the total population; about 85% of the population consists of noncitizens (2005 est.)
West Bank
- Muslim 80-85% (predominantly Sunni),
- Jewish 12-14%,
- Christian 1-2.5% (mainly Greek Orthodox),
- other,
- unaffiliated,
- unspecified <1%
note: the proportion of Christians continues to fall mainly as a result of the growth of the Muslim population but also because of migration and the declining birth rate of the Christian population (2012 est.)
Yemen
Muslim 99.1% (official; virtually all are citizens, an estimated 65% are Sunni and 35% are Shia), other 0.9% (includes Jewish, Baha'i, Hindu, and Christian; many are refugees or temporary foreign residents) (2010 est.)
North America
5 entriesOceania
25 entriesNew Zealand
note: based on the 2013 census of the usually resident population; percentages add up to more than 100% because people were able to identify more than one religion (2013 est.)
Northern Mariana Islands
Christian (Roman Catholic majority, although traditional beliefs and taboos may still be found)
South America
13 entriesSoutheast Asia
16 entriesBurma now Burma (Myanmar)
note: religion estimate is based on the 2014 national census, including an estimate for the non-enumerated population of Rakhine State, which is assumed to mainly affiliate with the Islamic faith (2014 est.)
Malaysia
- Muslim (official) 61.3%,
- Buddhist 19.8%,
- Christian 9.2%,
- Hindu 6.3%,
- Confucianism,
- Taoism,
- other traditional Chinese religions 1.3%,
- other 0.4%,
- none 0.8%,
- unspecified 1% (2010 est.)
Cite this page
Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2016, “Religions”, all entries. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/fields/religions/2016.