|Accurately estimating the number of
followers of any world religion is a difficult and complex task. In some regions of the
world, religious persecution or government oppression may make individual believers
reluctant to identify themselves. In other areas, poor communication or travel networks
make it difficult to collect data.
difficulties in mind, demographers at the Bahá'í World Centre have attempted to be as
conservative as possible in estimating the number of Bahá'ís worldwide. Their most
recent survey yielded an estimate of 5,000,000 Bahá'ís in 1991.
The inherent conservatism of their methodology is evident
when Bahá'í statistics are compared with estimates made by other religious scholars.
Each year, for example, the Encyclopaedia Britannica publishes a table of religious
demographic statistics. According to the 1992 Britannica Book of the Year, there were
5,400,000 Bahá'ís worldwide in 1991.
Over the last three decades, the number of Bahá'ís in the
world has grown dramatically. It is estimated that there were about 400,000 Bahá'ís in
the world in 1963, the year of the First Bahá'í World Congress. By 1985, it was
estimated that there were about 3,500,000 Bahá'ís in the world.
In other words, the Bahá'í Faith has grown by an estimated
1,500,000 believers over the last six years, an increase of roughly 43 percent.
Making any comparison between the rate of growth of the
Bahá'í Faith and other religions must be carefully qualified. Since Bahá'í
demographers are not involved in gathering statistics on other religions, it would be
inappropriate to make any official characterization about the rate of growth of the
Bahá'í Faith in. relation to other religious groups.
ANNUAL RATE OF GROWTH,
1970-1985 OF THE WORLD'S INDEPENDENT RELIGIONS
3.63% - Bahá'í Faith
2.74% - Islam
2.30% - Hinduism
1.67% - Buddhism
1.64% - Christianity
1.09% - Judaism
However, statistics from the World Christian Encyclopedia,
which is perhaps the best-respected work on this subject, indicate that the Bahá'í faith
is among, the fastest growing of the independent world religions. The World Christian
Encyclopedia estimated that the worldwide Bahá'í community grew at an average rate of
3.63 percent per year during the 15 years from 1970 to 1985.
Published in 1982, it reports on the work of Christian
demographers who undertook a decade-long survey of religious believers worldwide in the
1970s. The survey attempted to accurately determine the number of Christians--and
followers of other religions--in every country, and to make projections about their
A comparison of rates of growth among the independent world
religions, as reported in the World Christian Encyclopedia, is shown in the graph below at
While these figures are more than seven years old, they
remain virtually the only widely published side-by- side comparison of the rate of growth
for various religions.
It is important to qualify these figures by noting that,
according to the World Christian Encyclopedia, some sects or sub-groups-of Christianity
and Islam grew faster than the Bahá'í Faith during this period. None of these sects or
sub-groups, however, were listed as having followers in more than 100 countries. The
Bahá'í Faith, was listed as having established "significant" communities in
more than 192 countries in 1982, at the time of the Encyclopedia's publication.
More recent figures, reported in the 1992 Britannica Book of
the Year, show the Bahá'í Faith as having significant communities in 205 countries,
second only to Christianity in its geographic spread.
Statisticians at the Bahá'í World Centre calculated In 1992
that the Faith is established in 232 countries and dependent territories.