Todd M. Johnson & Brian J. Grim 
The World’s Religions in Figures [PDF ebook] 
An Introduction to International Religious Demography

Created by two of the field’s leading experts, this unique
introduction to international religious demography outlines the
challenges in interpreting data on religious adherence, and
presents a contemporary portrait of global religious belief.

* Offers the first comprehensive overview of the field of
international religious demography – detailing what we know
about religious adherents around the world, and how we know it

* Examines religious freedom and diversity, including agnostics
and atheists, on a global scale, highlighting trends over the past
100 years and projecting estimates for the year 2050

* Outlines the issues and challenges related to definitions,
taxonomies, sources, analyses, and other techniques in interpreting
data on religious adherence

* Considers data from religious communities, censuses, surveys,
and scholarly research, along with several in-depth case studies on
the global Muslim population, religion in China, and the religious
demography of recently created Sudan and South Sudan

* Argues against the belief that the twentieth-century was a
‘secular’ period by putting forward new evidence to the
contrary

* Provides resources for measuring both qualitatively and
quantitatively important data on the world’s religious situation in
the twenty-first century

Tabella dei contenuti

List of Figures xiii

List of Tables xiv

Foreword xix

Acknowledgments xxiv

Introduction 1

Part I Overview 7

1 Global Religious Populations, 1910-2010 9

2 Regional Religious Populations, 1910-2010 81

3 Religious Diversity 93

4 Projecting Religious Populations, 2010-50 111

Part II Data and Methods 133

5 Defining Religion and Religious Identity 135

6 Religious Demography as an Emerging Discipline 143

7 Major Sources and Collections of Data 163

8 Analyzing Data on Religion 190

9 Dynamics of Change in Religious Populations 205

Part III Case Studies 227

10 Estimating Changes in the Global Muslim Population 229

11 Factors Driving Change in the Global Muslim Population
258

12 Estimating China’s Religious Populations 286

13 Assessing Religious Populations in the Sudans 313

14 Migration and Religious Diasporas 321

Conclusion 333

Appendix: World Religions by Country 337

Glossary 346

Index 360

Circa l’autore

Todd
M. Johnsonlang=’EN-GB’>is Associate Professor of Global Christianity at
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Director of the Center for
the Study of Global Christianity. He is Visiting Research Fellow at
the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA) at
Boston University, where he co-edits the World Religion
Database. Professor Johnson is the co-editor of the Atlas of
Global Christianity (with Kenneth Ross, 2009) and co-author of
World Christianity Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition
(with David Barrett and George Kurian, 2001) and World Christian
Trends (with David Barrett, et al, 2001). style=’color: #000000; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;’>style=’mso-spacerun: yes;’> He is also the editor of
the World Christian
Database.
Brian J. Grim style=’font-family:’>is Director of cross-national data and Senior
Researcher in religion and world affairs at style=’font-family:’>the Pew Research Center’s Forum on
Religion & Public Life in Washington, D.C. Dr Grim is also
Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute on Culture, Religion, and
World Affairs at Boston University, where he co-edits the World
Religion Database. style=’mso-bidi-font-style: italic;’>He is co-author of
The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict
in the 21st Century (with Roger Finke,
2011).