Asia is the largest and most populous continent and the birthplace of many religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Korean shamanism, and Zoroastrianism. All major religious traditions are practiced in the region and new forms are constantly emerging. Asia is noted for its diversity of culture. Hinduism and Islam are the largest religions in Asia with approximately 1.2-1.3 billion adherents each.
Indian religions
Indian religions, also called Dharmic religions are the oldest religions of Asia. All Indian religions originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions all have the similar concepts like dharma, karma, and reincarnation, but the interpretation of these concepts varies with each religion.
Hinduism
Hinduism is the largest religion in Asia with about 1.26 billion followers, mainly in South and Southeast Asia. Hinduism, like all Dharmic religions, originates in India. More than 93% of the global Hindu population live in India. Demographically, it is the largest religion in India (80%), Nepal (85%), and the island of Bali (87%),Penduduk Menurut Wilayah dan Agama yang Dianut (2010 Census). bps.go.id with strong minorities in the Asian nations of Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Afghanistan. As of 2020, India has a Hindu population of 1.10 billion, Nepal has a Hindu population of 23.5 million, and there are 14.5 million Hindus in Bangladesh.
Hinduism is a fusion that resulted from incorporating the tribal cultures, tribal and folk religions, and tribal deities, Its principles like karma, moksha, rebirth, reincarnation, renunciation, samsara are incorporated into Sramana traditions like Buddhism, Jainism, and the traditions predating the Buddha and Mahavira.
Buddhism
Buddhism was founded by Siddartha Gautama, who is known as the Buddha. Buddhism is the fourth largest world religion and the third largest religion in Asia, which is adhere by 12% of Asia's population. It is the predominant religion and hold the majority population in Thailand (95%), Myanmar (89%), Cambodia (98%), Sri Lanka (70%), Laos (67%), Mongolia (54%), Japan (20%. - 36% or 67%), Bhutan (75%), Tibet (79%) and Macau (80%). Large Buddhist populations reside in Taiwan (35%), China (4%), Singapore (33%), South Korea (22.9%), Malaysia (19.8%), Hong Kong (15%), North Korea (13.8%), Nepal (10.7%), Vietnam (10%), Ladakh (39.65%) and Sikkim (27.39%). There are also strong Buddhist minorities in India, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Russia.
Before the advent of Islam, Buddhism was one of the most widely practiced religions in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press), 46
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion. Jains are mostly found in India but are increasingly found throughout the world.Estimates for the population of Jains differ from just over four million to twelve million due to difficulties of Jain identity, with Jains in some areas counted as a Hindu sect. Many Jains do not return Jainism as their religion on census forms for various reasons such as certain Jain castes considering themselves both Hindu and Jain. The 1981 Census of India returned 3.19 million Jains. This was estimated at the time to be at least half the true number. There are an estimated 25,000-30,000 Jains in Europe (mostly in Britain), 20,000 in Africa, 45,000 plus in North America (from ) and 5,000 in the rest of Asia. Jains have significantly influenced and contributed to ethical, political and economic spheres in India. Jains have an ancient tradition of scholarship and have the highest degree of literacy for a religious community in India. Jain libraries are the oldest in the country.The Jain Knowledge Warehouses: Traditional Libraries in India, John E. Cort, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 115, No. 1 (January – March, 1995), pp. 77–87 It has traditionally been confined to the Indian subcontinent. It is based on the teachings of Vardhaman Mahavir and also on 23 other Tirthankaras.
Sikhism
Sikhism is the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with approximately 30 million adherents. And one of the most steadily growing. It is a monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak Dev in the 1500s. The religion professes its roots in the area of Punjab region, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.
This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the gurus) or the Sikh Dharm. Sikhism originated from the word Sikh, which in turn comes from the Sanskrit root śhiṣhya meaning "disciple" or "learner", or śhikṣha meaning "instruction".
Sikhism is the 4th largest religion in India with 2% of the total population being Sikh. There is also a large concentration of Sikhs in Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Kuwait and U.A.E.
Abrahamic religions
Judaism Judaism is the predominant religion in Israel (75.6%), which has a nominal Jewish population of about 6.1 million.
Outside of Israel there are small diaspora communities of Jewish people living in Palestine (432,800), Turkey (17,400), Azerbaijan (9,100), Iran (8,756), See Persian Jews#Iran India (5,000) and Uzbekistan (4,000).World Jewish Population 2007 , American Jewish Yearbook, vol. 107 (2007), p. 592.
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament which are brought together in the Christian Bible as canonical scripture. It is the world's largest religion with about 2.4 billion followers and is culturally and traditionally diverse. Christianity is a widespread minority religion in Asia with more than 286 million adherents according to Pew Research Center in 2010, and nearly 364 million according to Britannica Book of the Year 2014 constituting around 8.5% of the total population of Asia.
Only six countries are predominantly Christian: Asian Russia which predominantly adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church; Cyprus, which is predominantly Orthodox; the Philippines, which is the third-largest Roman Catholic nation in the world; Timor Leste, which is the most overwhelming Christian (99.6%) and Roman Catholic nation in Asia (97.6%); Armenia, which was the first state to adopt a Christian denomination as its state religion; and Georgia (88.1). Christianity also accounts for 29.2% of South Korea's population (54.5% of its religious population) and is now the predominant religion in South Korea, Christianity is also a large minority religion in Lebanon accounting for 40% of its population. Christianity is also a large minority religion in Kazakhstan (26%), Singapore (18.3%), and Kyrgyzstan (17%).
Asian countries with large Christian populations are Philippines (84 million), China (68 million), India (30 million), Indonesia (28 million), Kazakhstan (4.7 million), South Korea (15 million), Vietnam (7 million), Georgia (4.6 million), Armenia (3.2 million), Malaysia (2.6 million), Japan (2.5 million), Pakistan (2.5 million), Uzbekistan (2.5 million), Syria (1.8 million), Sri Lanka (1.5 million), East Timor (1.2 million) and Taiwan (one million).
There are still large ancient communities of Middle Eastern Christians and Arab Christians in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine numbering more than 3 million in West Asia. There are also a large populations of expatriate workers which include a sizeable Christian communities live in Arabian Peninsula numbering more than 3 million.
Islam
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allāh) and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of hadith) of Muhammad, considered by them to be the last prophet of God. Islam is the largest religion in Asia with about 1.2 billion adherents. Asia constitute in absolute terms the world's Muslim population. South and Southeast Asia are home of the most populous Muslim countries, with Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh having more than 100 million adherents. According to U.S. government figures, in 2006 there were 20 million Muslims in China. In Western Asia, the non-Arab countries of Iran and Turkey are the largest Muslim-majority countries. In South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the countries with the largest Muslim-majority. In Central Asia, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are the countries with the largest Muslim-majority.
Indonesia is 86% Muslim and is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Pakistan is 97% Muslim, Bangladesh is 89% and Malaysia is 65%. India's Muslim population is 14% of the total, approximately 200 million people, which grew because of pluralist mindset of native Indian religions. Around 6-11 percent, some 6 - 12 million people in the Philippines are Muslim.Philippines in Figures : 2014 , Philippine Statistics Authority. Thailand's Muslims make up 4.6 percent of the population, or approximately 3 million people. Also Sri Lanka's Muslims make up 10 percent of the population, or approximately 2.5 million people
Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Maldives, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon are the 27 Muslim majority states in Asia.
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is an Abrahamic religion although it is quite different from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It was so founded by Bahá'u'lláh in what was then Persia (also known as Iran). Today the largest national population of Baháʼís is in India with between 1.7 millionSource: Year 2000 Estimated Baha'i statistics from: David Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000; Total population statistics, mid-2000 from Population Reference Bureau to over 2 million,National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of India where there is also the Lotus Temple. Significant populations are found in many countries including Vietnam and Malaysia where "about 1%", some 260,000, of the population are Baháʼís.National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Malaysia In other places, like Kazakhstan there are 25 Local Spiritual Assemblies.
In modern-day Iran, the religion is severely persecuted (see Persecution of Baháʼís). In neighboring Turkmenistan, Baháʼí Faith is effectively banned, and individuals have had their homes raided for Baháʼí literature.
Druze
Druze are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group originating in Western Asia who self-identify as The People of Monotheism (Al-Muwaḥḥidūn). Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of Druze, who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. It is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad and the sixth Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Zeno of Citium. Druze do not identify as Muslims.
The number of Druze people worldwide is between 800,000 and one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant. The Institute of Druze Studies estimates that 40–50% of Druze live in Syria, 30–40% in Lebanon, 6–7% in Israel, and 1–2% in Jordan. About 2% of the Druze population are also scattered within other countries in the Middle East.