ॐ Ancient Indian subcontinent
Hinduism
Geographically the most concentrated major religion: roughly 95% of all Hindus live in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Adherents
1.2bn
Share of world
14.9%
Median age
29
Net from switching
-0.6m
Where it is actually moving
Switching is close to zero — the most stable major religion measured. Almost all change is demographic, plus small diaspora movement to the Gulf, the UK and North America.
Largest Hindu populations
India
1130m · 79%Pew's landmark India survey found 98% of Indian adults still identify with the religion they were raised in — the lowest switching rate of any large country on Earth.
Nepal
25.1m · 81%Nepal's Christian population has grown from a few hundred people in 1951 to over half a million — proportionally one of the fastest conversions to Christianity anywhere.
Bangladesh
13.8m · 8%The Hindu share has fallen from about 22% at independence in 1971 to under 9%, driven by migration rather than conversion.
Indonesia
5.6m · 2%The world's largest Muslim-majority country also contains Bali, a Hindu island of over 4 million within an 87% Muslim nation.
Pakistan
4.8m · 2%On current fertility, Pakistan is projected to overtake Indonesia as the country with the world's largest Muslim population before 2050.
United States
3.4m · 1%For every American raised with no religion who has since joined one, about six raised Christian have left — the largest raw switching flow in the Western hemisphere.
United Kingdom
1.4m · 2%England and Wales became majority non-Christian for the first time in the 2021 census — the fastest recorded religious change in British history.
Australia
0.8m · 3%'No religion' overtook Christianity in the 2021 census; Hinduism and Sikhism are the country's fastest-growing faiths, driven by migration.
Canada
0.8m · 2%Canada's Sikh population has more than doubled since 2001 and now exceeds 770,000, the largest share of any country outside India.
South Africa
0.6m · 1%African Independent Churches — locally founded, not missionary-planted — account for a larger share of South African Christians than any imported denomination.
Saudi Arabia
0.4m · 1%Almost all non-Muslim residents are migrant workers; the Hindu and Christian minorities are among the fastest-growing populations in the Gulf by migration alone.
Netherlands
0.2m · 1%The Netherlands has the highest measured net movement into 'no religion' in continental Europe.