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International Religious Demographic Statistics and Sources
The World Religion Database (WRD) contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world. It provides information from country censuses as well as best estimates for every religion to offer a definitive picture of religion and non-religion in the past, present, and future.
It offers best estimates at multiple dates for each of the world's religions for the period 1900 to 2050. The WRD is regularly updated with new sources of data, such as estimates of religious affiliation at the province level within countries and religious freedom information for all countries.
NEW: Now available: individual subscriptions for WRD. Please contact sales for all the options via sales@brill.com.
Database Functionality
- Sort, Modify, Print, or Export query results
- Customize reports and download data to generate charts, tables, and graphs
- Simple keyword search
- Browse pre-formatted directories on country, peoples, religions, etc.
- Access user stats (librarians only)
Features and Benefits
- Global comparative figures for every major religion
- Population and religious adherents for every country and United Nations region
- Access to source material on religious affiliation (census and survey figures)
- Breakdown of major religions into traditions (e.g. Sunni-Shi’as within Islam)
- Multiple data points to compare growth rates (1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2025, 2050)
- Feedback mechanism for users to comment on data, sources and methodology
Five demo’s with search examples are available on Brill’s Youtube channel.
For this, see: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHM0LYDn_HSMQICsWav13mFYBYV2ft9MN
It offers best estimates at multiple dates for each of the world's religions for the period 1900 to 2050. The WRD is regularly updated with new sources of data, such as estimates of religious affiliation at the province level within countries and religious freedom information for all countries.
NEW: Now available: individual subscriptions for WRD. Please contact sales for all the options via sales@brill.com.
Database Functionality
- Sort, Modify, Print, or Export query results
- Customize reports and download data to generate charts, tables, and graphs
- Simple keyword search
- Browse pre-formatted directories on country, peoples, religions, etc.
- Access user stats (librarians only)
Features and Benefits
- Global comparative figures for every major religion
- Population and religious adherents for every country and United Nations region
- Access to source material on religious affiliation (census and survey figures)
- Breakdown of major religions into traditions (e.g. Sunni-Shi’as within Islam)
- Multiple data points to compare growth rates (1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2025, 2050)
- Feedback mechanism for users to comment on data, sources and methodology
Five demo’s with search examples are available on Brill’s Youtube channel.
For this, see: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHM0LYDn_HSMQICsWav13mFYBYV2ft9MN
The World Christian Database (WCD) provides comprehensive statistical information on global Christianity, other world religions, and Christian activities in all 237 countries. Extensive data are available on thousands of Christian denominations, ethnolinguistic people groups, cities, and provinces.
The WCD transforms current statistics on religion into a real-time analysis tool that takes just minutes to perform even detailed research. This comprehensive database brings together a fully updated and cohesive religious data set with a world-class database architecture. The result is a simple, yet powerful database tool that enables users to customize reports and download data for in use in charts, tables, and graphs
NEW: Now available: individual subscriptions for WCD. Please contact sales for all the options via sales@brill.com.
Sources
- A large majority of the data collected for the WCD comes from published and unpublished sources, field work, interviews, and questionnaires - Around 5,000 statistical questionnaires returned by churches and national collaborators over the period 1982-present
- Field surveys and interviews on the spot in over 200 countries
- A mass of unpublished documentation on all countries, collected on the field, including reports, memoranda, photographs, maps, statistical summaries, and historical documents
- Around 4,500 printed contemporary descriptions of churches, describing denominations, movements, countries and confessions
- Officially-published reports of 500 government-organized national censuses of population
- A series of in-depth interviews with bishops, church leaders, and theologians
Detailed Religious and Demographic Statistics include:
- Global comparative figures for every major religion
- Population and religious adherents for every country and United Nations region
- Access to source material on religious affiliation (census and survey figures)
- Breakdown of major religions into traditions (e.g. Sunni-Shi’as within Islam)
- Multiple data points to compare growth rates (1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2025, 2050)
- Feedback mechanism for users to comment on data, sources and methodology
- Population and Adherents (for 1900, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2025, 2050)
- Demographics (birth rate, adult percentage, life expectancy)
- Health (HIV rates, access to water, mortality)
- Education (literacy percentage, schools, universities)
- Communication (scripture access, religious freedom)
- Christian personnel
- Evangelism rates
- Status of missions work
- Lists of Christian denominations in every country
- Country, regional, and global estimates of Pentecostals and Charismatics
- Status of Bible translation
Features and Benefits
- 9,000 Denominations
- 13,000 Ethnolinguistic Peoples
- 5,000 Cities
- 3,000 Provinces
- 238 Countries
- Quarterly updates
- Unique reference tool for professionals, scholars, students, agencies, news media
A demo is available here.
There is also a demo available for Denomination searches in the WCD.
The WCD transforms current statistics on religion into a real-time analysis tool that takes just minutes to perform even detailed research. This comprehensive database brings together a fully updated and cohesive religious data set with a world-class database architecture. The result is a simple, yet powerful database tool that enables users to customize reports and download data for in use in charts, tables, and graphs
NEW: Now available: individual subscriptions for WCD. Please contact sales for all the options via sales@brill.com.
Sources
- A large majority of the data collected for the WCD comes from published and unpublished sources, field work, interviews, and questionnaires - Around 5,000 statistical questionnaires returned by churches and national collaborators over the period 1982-present
- Field surveys and interviews on the spot in over 200 countries
- A mass of unpublished documentation on all countries, collected on the field, including reports, memoranda, photographs, maps, statistical summaries, and historical documents
- Around 4,500 printed contemporary descriptions of churches, describing denominations, movements, countries and confessions
- Officially-published reports of 500 government-organized national censuses of population
- A series of in-depth interviews with bishops, church leaders, and theologians
Detailed Religious and Demographic Statistics include:
- Global comparative figures for every major religion
- Population and religious adherents for every country and United Nations region
- Access to source material on religious affiliation (census and survey figures)
- Breakdown of major religions into traditions (e.g. Sunni-Shi’as within Islam)
- Multiple data points to compare growth rates (1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2025, 2050)
- Feedback mechanism for users to comment on data, sources and methodology
- Population and Adherents (for 1900, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2025, 2050)
- Demographics (birth rate, adult percentage, life expectancy)
- Health (HIV rates, access to water, mortality)
- Education (literacy percentage, schools, universities)
- Communication (scripture access, religious freedom)
- Christian personnel
- Evangelism rates
- Status of missions work
- Lists of Christian denominations in every country
- Country, regional, and global estimates of Pentecostals and Charismatics
- Status of Bible translation
Features and Benefits
- 9,000 Denominations
- 13,000 Ethnolinguistic Peoples
- 5,000 Cities
- 3,000 Provinces
- 238 Countries
- Quarterly updates
- Unique reference tool for professionals, scholars, students, agencies, news media
A demo is available here.
There is also a demo available for Denomination searches in the WCD.