Eastern Orthodoxy by country

Distribution of Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world by country:
  Main religion (more than 75%)
  Main religion (50–75%)
  Important minority religion (20–50%)
  Important minority religion (5–20%)
  Minority religion (1–5%)
  Tiny minority religion (below 1%), but has local autocephaly

Based on the numbers of adherents, the Eastern Orthodox Church (also known as Eastern Orthodoxy) is the second largest Christian communion in the world after the Roman Catholic Church.[1] The most common estimates of the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide is approximately 225–300 million.[2] The numerous Protestant groups in the world, if taken all together, outnumber the Eastern Orthodox,[3] but they differ theologically and do not form a single communion.[4]

Eastern Orthodoxy is the largest single religious faith in the world's largest country by area - Russia (41%[5][6]-77%[7][8]),[9] where roughly half of the Eastern Orthodox Christians live. It is the majority religion in Ukraine (65.4%[10]- 77%[11]), Romania (82%),[12] Belarus (48%[13]-73%[14]) Greece (95%-98%),[12] Serbia (85%),[12] Bulgaria (88%),[12] Moldova (93%),[12] Georgia (84%),[12] Macedonia (65%),[12] Cyprus (89%),[12] Montenegro (72%),[12] Estonia (14%), and it is also predominant in the disputed territories of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

Significant minorities, making up between 1 and 31 per cent of the population, are present in several European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (31%),[12] Latvia (18%), Albania (7%),[15] (census in Albania deemed corrupt, number has always been around 20%) Lithuania (4%), Croatia (4%), Slovenia (2%), and Finland (1.5%). In Asia, around the former USSR, Eastern Orthodoxy constitutes the dominant religion in northern Kazakhstan, representing 23.9%,[16] of the population of the region, and is also a significant minority in Kyrgyzstan (17%), Turkmenistan (5%), Uzbekistan (5%), Azerbaijan (2%),[12] and Tajikistan (1%). In Lebanon, 8% are Eastern Orthodox.[17] In Syria, 5-8% were Eastern Orthodox prior to the war, and Eastern Orthodox Christians represent between 0.5% and 2.5% in Palestine,[18] and over 1% in Jordan. Recent immigration and missionary activity raised the numbers of the Eastern Orthodox community in Catholic and Protestant countries such as Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Switzerland to roughly 2% of the population in each.

The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell from 19 percent in 1914 to 2.5 percent in 1927,[19] due to events which had a significant impact on the country's demographic structure, such as the Armenian Genocide, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey,[20] and the emigration of Christians to foreign countries (mostly in Europe and the Americas).[21] Today there are more than 160,000 people of different Christian denominations.[22]

Eastern Orthodox population by country

The number of members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in each country has been subject to a lot of debate. Each study performed that seeks to discover the number of adherents in a country may use different criteria, and be submitted to different populations. As such, some numbers may be inflated, and therefore inaccurate. Examples of this are Greece and Russia, where estimates of adherence to Eastern Orthodoxy may reach 80-98%, but where surveys found lower percentages professing Eastern Orthodoxy or belief in God. The likely reason for this disparity is that many people in these majority Eastern Orthodox countries will culturally identify with the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially if they were baptized as children, even if they are not currently practicing. This includes those who may be irreligious, yet culturally identify with the Eastern Orthodox Church, or for whom Eastern Orthodox Christianity is listed on official state records. Other cases of incongruent data also might be due to counting ethnic groups from Eastern Orthodox countries rather than actual adherents. A case of this is the United States, which has large numbers of immigrants from Eastern Orthodox countries. The Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions often reported large numbers of members, which together would total 2-3 million across the country. However, a 2010 study by Alexei Krindatch sought data from each parish, with the specific criteria of annual participation. This study produced the "Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches", and discovered that there were only about 817,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians actively practicing their faith (that is to say, attending church services on a regular basis) in the United States. The study explained that such a difference was due to a variety of circumstances, for example the higher numbers having counted all people who self-identify as Eastern Orthodox on a census regardless of active participation, or all people belonging to ethnic groups originating in Eastern Orthodox countries. This study, while initially controversial, proved groundbreaking, and has since been officially approved for use by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America.

As such, any data used to figure the population of Eastern Orthodox per nation, should be understood as estimated rather than exact. Additionally, total numbers of Eastern Orthodox Christians throughout the world may be anywhere from 150 million to 300 million, depending on the studies and definitions which are used.

Eastern Orthodox Church religious adherence by country
Country Total Population % Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox total
 Albania (details) 2,921,977 6.75% (as per census, number likely upwards of 20%) 188,992 [23] (census unreliable, deemed corrupt, number is expected to be much higher)
 Armenia (details) 3,262,200 0.04% 1,200
 Australia (details) 23,824,600 2.6% 563,100[24]
 Austria (details) 8,773,000 6% 500,000
 Azerbaijan (details) 9,624,900 2.5% 240,000
 Belarus (details) 9,481,000 48.3% 4,590,000[13]
 Bosnia & Herzegovina (details) 3,871,643 31%[12] 1,200,000
 Bulgaria (details) 7,348,328[25] 59.4%[26] 4,374,135
 Canada (details) 33,476,688 1.7% 550,690[27]
 Croatia (details) 4,284,889 4.44%[28] 195,969
 Cyprus (details) 838,897 89.1%[12] 781,900
 Czech Republic (details) 10,538,275 0.2% 20,533
 Egypt (details) 84,550,000 0.39% 350,000[29]
 Estonia (details) 1,294,486 13.66% 176,773[30][31]
 Finland (details) 5,477,359 1.10%[32] 59,000
 Georgia (details) 3,729,635 82.1% 3,550,000
 Germany (details) 80,716,000 1.87% 1,500,000
 Greece (details) 10,815,197 95% 10,270,000
 Israel (details) 7,821,850[12] 0.67%[12] 50,000
 Italy (details) 60,795,612 1.5% 900,000[33]
 Japan (details) 126,880,000 0.03% 30,000[34]
 Jordan (details) 6,508,887 1.50% 100,000
 Kazakhstan (details) 17,948,816 23.9% 4,300,000 [16]
 Korea, South (details) 51,413,925 0.005% 4,000
 Kosovo (details) 1,733,842 1.48% (as per census) 25,837 (census boycotted by Northern Kosovo, and by a part of Serbs in the south)
 Kyrgyzstan (details) 5,895,100 17%[35] 1,000,000
 Latvia (details) 2,027,000 17.9% 370,000[36]
 Lebanon (details) 4,525,247 9% 330,000
 Lithuania (details) 2,966,954 125,189[37]
 Macedonia (details) 2,022,547 64.8% 1,310,184[38]
 Mexico (details) 121,736,809 0.00012% 15,000
 Moldova (details) 3,383,332 93.3% 3,158,015
 Montenegro (details) 625,266 72.0% 446,858[39]
 New Zealand (details) 4,599,327 0.3% 13,883[16]
 Palestine (details) 4,550,368 1.50%[18] 300
 Poland (details) 0.4% 156,000[40][41]
 Romania (details) 20,121,641 81.1% 16,321,389 [42]
 Russia (details) [43] 145,500,000 46.6%[44]-77.0%[7][8] 58,800,000[45][46]-101,450,000[45]
 Serbia (details) 7,186,862 84.59% 6,079,396[47]
 Slovakia (details) 5,397,036 0.9% 49,133[48]
 Slovenia (details) 2,055,496 2.2% 45,000
 Spain (details) 46,464,053 3.10% 1,500,000
 Sweden (details) 9,775,572 1.0% 97,000
  Switzerland (details) 8,211,700 1.7% 140,000[49]
 Syria (details) 22,457,336 5% 1,200,000
 Tajikistan (details) 8,208,000 2% 160,000
 Transnistria (details) 505,153 91%[50] 460,000
 Turkey (details) 77,695,904 0.8% 60,000
 Turkmenistan (details) 5,171,643 5%[51] 410,000
 Ukraine (details) 40,000,000 65.4%-76.6%[11] 27,802,000[10]-34,850,000[11]
 United States (details) 321,163,157 0.25% 817,528 [52]
 Uzbekistan (details) 29,559,100 5%[53] 1,000,000
TOTAL NA NA ~260 million[11]

Eastern Orthodox Church by jurisdiction

Autocephalous Orthodox Churches

The Eastern Orthodox Church is organized as a union of several autocephalous subdivisions, which are also called "Churches" (or, sometimes, "jurisdictions"). Some are associated with a specific country, while others are not. This table presents some known data regarding individual jurisdictions. "NA" means that data is not available.

Eastern Orthodox Church by jurisdiction
Jurisdiction Bishops Priests Monastics Monasteries Parishes
Constantinople 125 NA 1,800 [Note 1] 142 648
Alexandria 41 NA NA NA NA
Antioch 36 NA NA NA NA
Jerusalem 20 NA NA NA NA
Russia 217 30,675 NA 807 30,142
Serbia 45 NA NA 286 3,100
Romania 53 15,068 7,605 359 15,717
Bulgaria 15 1,500 NA 120 2,600
Georgia 37 437 NA NA 600
Cyprus 16 NA NA 67 NA
Greece 101 10,000 3,541 [54] 541 [54] NA
Poland 12 NA NA NA 400
Albania 6 135 NA 150 909
Czech Lands & Slovakia 6 NA NA NA 172
Orthodox Church in America 14 NA NA 20 700
Total 743 54,382 12,946 2,256 54,939

Notes

  1. ↑ This is including Mount Athos

References

  1. ↑ Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents
  2. ↑ Orthodox Affiliation
  3. ↑ Jay Diamond, Larry. Plattner, Marc F. and Costopoulos, Philip J. World Religions and Democracy. 2005, page 119.(also in PDF file Archived 2008-04-13 at the Wayback Machine., p49), saying "Not only do Protestants presently constitute 13 percent of the world's population—about 800 million people—but since 1900 Protestantism has spread rapidly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America." "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  4. ↑ Major Branches of Religions
  5. ↑ Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia. Sreda.org
  6. ↑ 2012 Survey Maps. "Ogonek", ? 34 (5243), 27/08/2012. Retrieved 24-09-2012.
  7. 1 2 VTSIOM
  8. 1 2 Public Opinion Foundation
  9. ↑ There is no official census of religion in Russia, and estimates are based on surveys only. In August 2012, ARENA determined that about 46.8% of Russians are Christians (including Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and non-denominational), which is slightly less than an absolute 50%+ majority. However, later that year the Levada Center determined that 76% of Russians are Christians, and in June 2013 the Public Opinion Foundation determined that 65% of Russians are Christians. These findings are in line with Pew's 2010 survey, which determined that 73.6% of Russians are Christians, with VTSIOM's 2010 survey (~77% Christian), and with Ipsos MORI Archived 2013-01-17 at the Wayback Machine.'s 2011 survey (69%).
  10. 1 2 РЕЛІГІЯ, ЦЕРКВА, СУСПІЛЬСТВО І ДЕРЖАВА: ДВА РОКИ ПІСЛЯ МАЙДАНУ (Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan), 2016 report by Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches. pp. 27-29.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Pewforum: Christianity (2010)" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-14.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Field Listing :: Religions". The World Factbook. CIA. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  13. 1 2 Religion and denominations in the Republic of Belarus by the Commissioner on Religions and Nationalities of the Republic of Belarus from November 2011
  14. ↑ Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe: National and religious identities converge in a region once dominated by atheist regimes
  15. ↑ Religion in Albania#Religious demography
  16. 1 2 3 Table 28, 2013 Census Data – QuickStats About Culture and Identity – Tables.
  17. ↑ Lebanon – International Religious Freedom Report 2010 U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 14 February 2010.
  18. 1 2 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/we.html
  19. ↑ Içduygu, Ahmet; Toktas, Şule; Ali Soner, B. (1 February 2008). "The politics of population in a nation-building process: emigration of non-Muslims from Turkey". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 31 (2): 358–389. doi:10.1080/01419870701491937.
  20. ↑ "Chapter The refugees question in Greece (1821-1930) in "Θέματα Νεοελληνικής Ιστορίας", ΟΕΔΒ ("Topics from Modern Greek History"). 8th edition" (PDF)|format= requires |url= (help). Nikolaos Andriotis. 2008. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  21. ↑ "'Editors' Introduction: Why a Special Issue?: Disappearing Christians of the Middle East" (PDF). Editors' Introduction. 2001. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  22. ↑ "Religions". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/2071.0Main%20Features902012%E2%80%932013
  25. ↑ "Population, total". United Nations. The World Bank. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  26. ↑ "People and Society :: Bulgaria – Religions". The World Factbook. CIA. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  27. ↑ http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130508/dq130508b-eng.htm?HPA
  28. ↑ http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv/censuses/census2011/results/htm/usp_04_HR.htm
  29. ↑ "Egypt Religions & Peoples from "LOOKLEX Encyclopedia"". LookLex Ltd. September 30, 2008.
  30. ↑ "PC0454: AT LEAST 15-YEAR-OLD PERSONS BY RELIGION, SEX, AGE GROUP, ETHNIC NATIONALITY AND COUNTY, 31 DECEMBER 2011". Statistics Estonia. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  31. ↑ "PHC 2011: over a quarter of the population are affiliated with a particular religion". Statistics Estonia. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  32. ↑ http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_vaesto_en.html#structure
  33. ↑ Caritas Dossier Immigrazione 2007 Archived November 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  34. ↑ ???????????? ???? ????????? ? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? (in Russian). Interfax Russia. 2009-12-07. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  35. ↑ https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2001/5598.htm
  36. ↑ "Tieslietu ministrija iesniegtie religisko organizaciju parskati par darbibu 2011. gada" (in Latvian). Archived from the original on 2012-11-26. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  37. ↑ Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. "Ethnicity, mother tongue and religion". Archived from the original on 2014-10-08. . 2013-03-15.
  38. ↑ http://www.stat.gov.mk/publikacii/knigaX.pdf
  39. ↑ "Popis stanovništva, domacinstava i stanova u Crnoj Gori 2011. godine" [Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Montenegro 2011] (PDF) (Press release) (in Serbo-Croatian and English). Statistical office, Montenegro. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  40. ↑ GUS, Narodowy Spis Powszechny Ludnosci 2011: 4.4. Przynaleznosc wyznaniowa (National Survey 2011: 4.4 Membership in faith communities) p. 99/337 (PDF file, direct download 3.3 MB). ISBN 978-83-7027-521-1 Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  41. ↑ Glówny Urzad Statystyczny (2012). Rocznik statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 2012 (PDF). Warszawa: Zaklad Wydawnictw Statystycznych. (in Polish)/(in English)
  42. ↑ 2011 Census Religion Statistics (final results) (in Romanian)
  43. ↑ There is no official census of religion in Russia, and estimates are based on surveys only. In August 2012, ARENA determined that about 46.8% of Russians are Christians (including Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and non-denominational), which is slightly less than an absolute 50%+ majority. However, later that year the Levada Center determined that 76% of Russians are Christians, and in June 2013 the Public Opinion Foundation determined that 65% of Russians are Christians. These findings are in line with Pew's 2010 survey, which determined that 73.6% of Russians are Christians, with VTSIOM's 2010 survey (~77% Christian), and with Ipsos MORI Archived 2013-01-17 at the Wayback Machine.'s 2011 survey (69%).
  44. ↑ Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia. 2012 National Survey of Religions in Russia. Sreda.org
  45. 1 2 http://fom.ru/obshchestvo/10953 Public Opinion Foundation
  46. ↑ http://www.levada.ru/17-12-2012/v-rossii-74-pravoslavnykh-i-7-musulman Levada Center
  47. ↑ "????????????, ??????????? ? ???????? – ???? : ????? ? ?????? 2011". Popis2011.stat.rs.
  48. ↑ "Table 14 Population by religion" (PDF). Statistical Office of the SR. 2011. Retrieved Jun 8, 2012.
  49. ↑ "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach Religions- / Konfessionszugehörigkeit, 2011-2013". bfs.admin.ch (Statistics) (in German). Neuchâtel: Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 2015. Archived from the original (XLS) on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  50. ↑ "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Transnistria (unrecognised state): Overview". Refworld. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  51. ↑ "????????.ru: "??????????? ????? ??????????????? ???????????" / ?????? / ??????????.ru". Patriarchia.ru. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  52. ↑ Krindatch, Alexei (2011). Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-935317-23-4.
  53. ↑ https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2924.htm
  54. 1 2 CNEWA – Church of Greece
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