Map Options

Color Scheme:
map placeholder
% Hindu

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Click on a country for details.

Hindu Countries 2023

Hinduism is a major world religion originating on the Indian subcontinent and widely practiced throughout Southeast Asia. Hinduism comprises various philosophies, beliefs, and rituals. The four largest denominations of Hinduism are Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Hinduism, more so than any other religion, accepts and celebrates that truth or reality cannot be encapsulated and must be sought in multiple sources.

Many Hindus strongly believe that tolerance is the central religious virtue and consider Hinduism to be a way of life more than a religion. This notion is reinforced by the vast differences between the various branches of Hinduism, as well as the fact that Hinduism has no founder and no single universally accepted central god or prophet. Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life. These are Dharma (ethics/duties), Artha (prosperity/work), Kama (desires/passions), and Moksha (emancipation, self-realization, and to some Hindus the liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth/salvation). Additionally, Hinduism is shaped by five elements: doctrine, practice, society, story, and devotion.

Countries with the highest percentage of Hindus:

Hinduism is the third-largest religion worldwide, with approximately 1.2 billion Hindus in many different countries. Oddly, Hinduism is the dominant religion in only three countries—but one of the three happens to be the second-most-populated country in the world, India, (78.9%). The other two countries are Nepal (80.6%) and Mauritius (48.4%). Although Hinduism is rarely a country's primary religion, it still enjoys a global presence. Many regions around the world support significant populations of Hindus, including the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America.

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Number of Hindus in 2020 - Pew Research:

  1. India - 1,093,780,000
  2. Nepal - 28,600,000
  3. Bangladesh - 13,790,000
  4. Indonesia - 4,210,000
  5. Pakistan - 3,990,000
  6. Sri Lanka - 3,090,000
  7. United States - 2,510,000
  8. Malaysia - 1,940,000
  9. United Kingdom - 1,030,000
  10. Myanmar (Burma) - 890,000

India, unsurprisingly, has the largest Hindu population in the world at nearly 1.094 billion, comprising a full 78.9% of India's massive population. Additionally, about 95% of the world's Hindus live in India. The majority of Hindus in India belong to the Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations. Nepal has the second-highest Hindu population with 28.6 million, which is 80.6% of the country's population. Hinduism played a large role in Nepal's history, which was the only Hindu state in the world until 2008. Hinduism in Nepal differs from that in India in three ways: Hinduism and Buddhism are not separated from each other in local populations, there are no influences of Islam, and there are no influences of Bhakti traditions.

Bangladesh has the third-largest population of Hindus at almost 13.8 million. Hinduism is the second-largest religious affiliation, comprising about 8.2% of the population, while Islam is the largest religion, comprising about 90% of the population. Despite having a relatively large number of Hindus, Bangladesh has seen a steady decrease in the Hindu population since 1940, where the percentage of the total population was 28%. With a Hindu population of more than 4.2 million, Indonesia has the fourth-highest Hindu community in the world. Indonesia is predominantly Muslim (90%), with only 1.6% of Indonesian people practicing Hinduism. The Bali island in Indonesia has the largest number of Hindus living in Indonesia, with more than 83% of its population being Hindu. A few years after gaining independence from the Dutch, the Indonesian Ministry of Religion came under Islamists' control, who defined religion as monotheistic. As a result, Indonesia denied rights of citizenship to individuals who did not belong to a monotheistic religion; therefore, the Balinese Hindus adopted their form of Hinduism to be monotheistic. Balinese Hinduism is a distinct type of Hindu worship that incorporates local animism, ancestor worship (Pitru Paksha), and reverence for Buddhist saints (Bodhisattva).

Pakistan has nearly 4 million Hindus, comprising 1.9% of its total population. Hinduism is Pakistan's second-largest religion behind Islam. Hinduism, as well as Buddhism and Sikhism, has been on the decline in Pakistan for centuries. Non-Muslims in Pakistan have faced discrimination and persecution with the rise of the Muttahida Majilis-i-Amal (MMA), a coalition of Islamist political parties that have taken a specific anti-Hindu stance. Additionally, the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan has further influenced the anti-Hindu attitude and increased persecution of Hindus and all non-Muslims. The religious discrimination and persecution in Pakistan have many Hindus looking to India for safety. Hinduism is the oldest religion in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the sixth-largest Hindu population at 3.09 million, comprising about 13.7% of its people. Sri Lankan Hindus are almost exclusively Tamils, the oldest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, with some immigrants from India and Pakistan making up the rest of the Hindu population. Most Sri Lankan Hindus follow the teachings of Saiva Siddhanta while some follow Shaktism.

The United States has the seventh-largest Hindu population in the world of 2.51 million, comprising 0.7% of its total population. Roughly 90% of American Hindus are immigrants and the children of immigrants, with the remaining 10% being converts. Hindu-Americans hold the highest educational attainment level among all religious communities in the United States. Hindu concepts, such as karma, veganism, reincarnation, meditation, yoga, and Ayurveda, have become popular in the U.S. mainstream, believed and practiced by millions of non-Hindus. Hinduism also has the highest retention rate of any religion in the U.S., with 80% of adults who were raised as Hindus continuing to adhere to Hinduism. Malaysia has about 1.94 million Hindus, about 5.8% of the country's total population. Hinduism arrived in Malaysia when Indians began to settle there during the ancient and medieval eras, and most Hindus still live in peninsular Malaysia. As in some other countries with large Islam populations, Malaysian Hindus face institutionalized persecution due to discriminatory laws that blatantly favor Muslims. The Malaysian authorities have destroyed hundreds of Hindu temples, and religious violence against Hindus is common.

The United Kingdom has the ninth-largest Hindu population in the world with 1.03 million Hindus. This is about 1.6% of the U.K.'s total population. Hinduism was present in the United Kingdom as early as the 19th century, when the British Empire had control over India. Most of India's Hindu migration to the U.K. came in massive waves during four main periods after World War II. According to the United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics, British Hindus have the highest economic activity of all ethnic minorities in the U.K., and Hindu men are more likely than the general population to be entrepreneurs. The country formerly known as Burma rounds out the top 10 with 890,000 Hindus, roughly 1.7% of the population. Hindus in Myanmar have adopted several concepts practiced by the country's more than 41 million Buddhists, including statues of Buddha in their Hindu temples. The exchange has been mutual, however, as Hindu influence can be seen in everything from Burmese architecture to the origin of the names Burma and Myanmar.

0.5 means less than 1% of the population is Hindu. 5000 means less than 10,000 Hindus.

Download Table Data

Enter your email below, and you'll receive this table's data in your inbox momentarily.

Country
% Hindu
Hindus
Nepal80.6%28,600,000
India78.9%1,093,780,000
Mauritius48.4%640,000
Fiji27.9%270,000
Guyana23.3%200,000
Bhutan22.5%190,000
Trinidad and Tobago22.3%310,000
Suriname18.8%110,000
Qatar15.9%360,000
Sri Lanka13.7%3,090,000
Bahrain10.2%150,000
Kuwait9.9%330,000
Bangladesh8.2%13,790,000
United Arab Emirates7.7%660,000
Singapore6.5%380,000
Malaysia5.8%1,940,000
Oman5.7%190,000
Reunion4.5%40,000
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines3.4%5,000
New Zealand2.5%120,000
Seychelles2.1%5,000
Pakistan1.9%3,990,000
Gibraltar1.8%5,000
Canada1.7%610,000
Australia1.7%410,000
Indonesia1.6%4,210,000
United Kingdom1.6%1,030,000
Saint Kitts and Nevis1.5%5,000
French Guiana1.4%5,000
Saudi Arabia1.3%440,000
British Virgin Islands1.2%5,000
South Africa1%540,000
China0.5%30,000
United States0.5%2,510,000
Nigeria0.5%5,000
Brazil0.5%5,000
Russia0.5%60,000
Mexico0.5%5,000
Ethiopia0.5%5,000
Japan0.5%40,000
Philippines0.5%5,000
Egypt0.5%5,000
DR Congo0.5%40,000
Vietnam0.5%5,000
Iran0.5%20,000
Turkey0.5%5,000
Germany0.5%80,000
Thailand0.5%80,000
Tanzania0.5%50,000
France0.5%40,000
Italy0.5%140,000
Kenya0.5%70,000
Colombia0.5%5,000
South Korea0.5%20,000
Uganda0.5%140,000
Sudan0.5%5,000
Spain0.5%40,000
Argentina0.5%5,000
Algeria0.5%5,000
Iraq0.5%5,000
Afghanistan0.5%10,000
Poland0.5%5,000
Morocco0.5%5,000
Ukraine0.5%30,000
Angola0.5%5,000
Uzbekistan0.5%5,000
Yemen0.5%200,000
Peru0.5%5,000
Ghana0.5%5,000
Mozambique0.5%10,000
Madagascar0.5%20,000
Ivory Coast0.5%5,000
Venezuela0.5%5,000
Cameroon0.5%5,000
Niger0.5%5,000
North Korea0.5%5,000
Taiwan0.5%5,000
Mali0.5%5,000
Burkina Faso0.5%5,000
Syria0.5%5,000
Malawi0.5%10,000
Zambia0.5%20,000
Romania0.5%5,000
Chile0.5%5,000
Kazakhstan0.5%5,000
Chad0.5%5,000
Ecuador0.5%5,000
Somalia0.5%5,000
Guatemala0.5%5,000
Senegal0.5%5,000
Netherlands0.5%100,000
Cambodia0.5%5,000
Zimbabwe0.5%5,000
Guinea0.5%5,000
Rwanda0.5%5,000
Benin0.5%5,000
Burundi0.5%5,000
Tunisia0.5%5,000
Bolivia0.5%5,000
Haiti0.5%5,000
Belgium0.5%10,000
Jordan0.5%10,000
Dominican Republic0.5%5,000
Cuba0.5%20,000
South Sudan0.5%5,000
Sweden0.5%30,000
Honduras0.5%5,000
Czech Republic0.5%5,000
Azerbaijan0.5%5,000
Greece0.5%20,000
Papua New Guinea0.5%5,000
Portugal0.5%5,000
Hungary0.5%5,000
Tajikistan0.5%5,000
Belarus0.5%5,000
Israel0.5%5,000
Togo0.5%5,000
Austria0.5%5,000
Switzerland0.5%40,000
Sierra Leone0.5%5,000
Laos0.5%5,000
Hong Kong0.5%30,000
Serbia0.5%5,000
Nicaragua0.5%5,000
Libya0.5%5,000
Paraguay0.5%5,000
Kyrgyzstan0.5%5,000
Bulgaria0.5%5,000
Turkmenistan0.5%5,000
El Salvador0.5%5,000
Republic of the Congo0.5%5,000
Denmark0.5%30,000
Slovakia0.5%5,000
Central African Republic0.5%5,000
Finland0.5%5,000
Norway0.5%30,000
Liberia0.5%5,000
Palestine0.5%5,000
Lebanon0.5%5,000
Costa Rica0.5%5,000
Ireland0.5%20,000
Mauritania0.5%5,000
Panama0.5%5,000
Croatia0.5%5,000
Eritrea0.5%5,000
Georgia0.5%5,000
Mongolia0.5%5,000
Moldova0.5%5,000
Uruguay0.5%5,000
Puerto Rico0.5%5,000
Albania0.5%5,000
Jamaica0.5%5,000
Armenia0.5%5,000
Gambia0.5%5,000
Lithuania0.5%5,000
Botswana0.5%5,000
Namibia0.5%5,000
Gabon0.5%5,000
Lesotho0.5%5,000
Guinea Bissau0.5%5,000
Slovenia0.5%5,000
North Macedonia0.5%5,000
Latvia0.5%5,000
Equatorial Guinea0.5%5,000
Timor Leste0.5%5,000
Estonia0.5%5,000
Cyprus0.5%5,000
Djibouti0.5%5,000
Comoros0.5%5,000
Solomon Islands0.5%5,000
Macau0.5%5,000
Luxembourg0.5%5,000
Montenegro0.5%5,000
Cape Verde0.5%5,000
Western Sahara0.5%5,000
Malta0.5%5,000
Maldives0.5%5,000
Brunei0.5%5,000
Bahamas0.5%5,000
Belize0.5%5,000
Guadeloupe0.5%5,000
Iceland0.5%5,000
Martinique0.5%5,000
Mayotte0.5%5,000
Vanuatu0.5%5,000
French Polynesia0.5%5,000
New Caledonia0.5%5,000
Barbados0.5%5,000
Sao Tome and Principe0.5%5,000
Samoa0.5%5,000
Curacao0.5%5,000
Saint Lucia0.5%5,000
Guam0.5%5,000
Kiribati0.5%5,000
Grenada0.5%5,000
Micronesia0.5%5,000
Tonga0.5%5,000
Aruba0.5%5,000
Antigua and Barbuda0.5%5,000
Isle of Man0.5%5,000
Andorra0.5%5,000
Dominica0.5%5,000
Cayman Islands0.5%5,000
Bermuda0.5%5,000
Greenland0.5%5,000
Northern Mariana Islands0.5%5,000
Turks and Caicos Islands0.5%5,000
Sint Maarten0.5%5,000
American Samoa0.5%5,000
Marshall Islands0.5%5,000
Liechtenstein0.5%5,000
Monaco0.5%5,000
San Marino0.5%5,000
Palau0.5%5,000
Cook Islands0.5%5,000
Anguilla0.5%5,000
Nauru0.5%5,000
Wallis and Futuna0.5%5,000
Tuvalu0.5%5,000
Saint Pierre and Miquelon0.5%5,000
Montserrat0.5%5,000
Falkland Islands0.5%5,000
Niue0.5%5,000
Tokelau0.5%5,000
Vatican City0.5%5,000
showing: 225 rows

What are the 5 most Hindu countries in the world?

The five countries with the most Hindu followers are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

How many countries are majority Hindu?

Only India and Nepal have a majority of Hindu followers. Hindus in India make up 78.9% of the population. In Nepal, 80.6% of the country is Hindu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources