Believers v non-Believers

In 2012 there were around 7.4 billion people in the world:

2.1 billion were Christians

1.5 billion were Muslims

1.1 billion said they had no religion

900 million were Hindus ​

400 million belonged to Chinese folk religions

400 million belonged to tribal religions

375 million were Buddhists

24 million were Sikhs

14.5 million were Jews

7.4 million were Bahi’is

4.3 million were Jains

4 million were Shintoists

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2.4 million belonged to Taosim

Obviously these statistics are approximate as they change every second but they paint a reasonably accurate picture of religion in the world today. The statistics are derived from Wikipedia and several other websites have confirmed their reliability and they do enable us to get a picture of today's world.

What we can learn from these statistics.

• Throughout the world there is a huge majority of seven believers to every one non-believer.

• Most of the world’s population have a faith in a religion.

• Non-believers are in the minority.

• It is essential that we understand religion if we wish to understand the world.

• If we want to understand and develop empathy with others in the world then we have to learn about their beliefs.

• Over 5 billion people believe in a God which is about 70% of the world population.

• The study and understanding of religion may well have a key role in developing to world peace.