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What Countries Have a National Religion / National Religion by Country 2024
There are also many countries that claim no national or state religion. Countries like the US also support and maintain the right to religious freedom. That simply means that people and citizens of the US are free to choose any religion they wish to follow.
Religion has been the backbone of many countries, and it has been the impetus behind many backs being broken too. There are also some places and some countries where certain religions are not only unsupported but forbidden. In some of those states, certain religions are even deemed illegal or outside the law.
There are also many much smaller sects and religious groups that aren't listed, but that have organized structures. In some countries like Russia too, there is more than one recognized national religion. Russia, for example, has at least three.
- While some countries founding documents clearly designate an official state religion, others are more vague. This can result in differences between a list created by one source and another.
- For example, El Salvador's constitution specifically prohibits restrictions based on differences of nationality, race, sex, or religion, but also states that the country recognizes the Catholic Church and gives it legal preference.
- Similarly, the Dominican Republic's constitution specifies that there is no state church, but the country also has an agreement with the Holy See that establishes Catholicism as the official religion.
- A 2017 Pew Research poll separated countries into those with clear official religions, those with "preferred" religions that stopped just short of being official, and those which had no official or preferred religion.
Country | Religion (Wiki) | Official Religion (Pew) | Preferred Religion (Pew) | Additional Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Islam | Islam | ||
| Algeria | Islam | Islam | ||
| Andorra | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Argentina | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Armenia | Other/mixed | Christianity | Armenia's constitution explicity states that "The Republic of Armenia shall recognise the exclusive mission of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, as a national church, in the spiritual life of the Armenian people, in the development of their national culture and preservation of their national identity." | |
| Bahrain | Islam | Islam | ||
| Bangladesh | Islam | Islam | ||
| Belarus | none | Christianity | ||
| Bhutan | Buddhism | Buddhism | ||
| Brunei | Islam | Islam | ||
| Bulgaria | Eastern Orthodoxy | Christianity | ||
| Cambodia | Buddhism | Buddhism | ||
| Cape Verde | none | Christianity | ||
| China | Other/mixed | Atheism | China's government is officially atheist, but officially recognizes and allows five religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Official and unofficial limitations on religious expression and assembly exist, but religion is not banned. | |
| Comoros | Islam | Islam | ||
| Costa Rica | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Cyprus | Eastern Orthodoxy | |||
| Denmark | Lutheranism | Christianity | ||
| Djibouti | Islam | Islam | ||
| Dominican Republic | Other/mixed | Christianity | The constitution of the Dominican Republic specifies that there is no state church and provides for freedom of religion and belief. However, a concordat with the Holy See designates Catholicism as the official religion. | |
| Egypt | Islam | Islam | ||
| El Salvador | Catholicism | |||
| Equatorial Guinea | none | Christianity | ||
| Eritrea | none | Multiple | ||
| Eswatini | none | Christianity | ||
| Faroe Islands | Lutheranism | |||
| Finland | Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy | Christianity | ||
| France | Other/mixed | While most of France has no official religion, the Alsace-Moselle region has four (Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism) thanks to a political agreement established in 1801 that has yet to be fully abolished. | ||
| Georgia | Eastern Orthodoxy | Christianity | ||
| Greece | Eastern Orthodoxy | Christianity | ||
| Greenland | Lutheranism | |||
| Guatemala | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Guernsey | Anglicanism | |||
| Haiti | Other/mixed | Christianity | While Catholicism has not been the state religion since 1987, a 19th-century concordat with the Holy See continues to confer preferential treatment to the Catholic Church, in the form of stipends for clergy and financial support to churches and religious schools. | |
| Honduras | none | Christianity | ||
| Hungary | Other/mixed | The preamble to the Hungarian Constitution of 2011 describes Hungary as "part of Christian Europe" and acknowledges "the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood", while Article VII provides that "the State shall cooperate with the Churches for community goals." | ||
| Iceland | Lutheranism | Christianity | ||
| Indonesia | Other/mixed | Multiple | Indonesia is officially a presidential republic and a unitary state that does not declare or designate a state religion. Officially, the government only recognizes six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. | |
| Iran | Islam | Islam | ||
| Iraq | Islam | Islam | ||
| Isle of Man | Anglicanism | |||
| Israel | Other/mixed | Judaism | Israel is defined in several of its laws as a "Jewish and democratic state" (medina yehudit ve-demokratit). However, the term "Jewish" is a polyseme that can describe the Jewish people as either an ethnic or a religious group. | |
| Italy | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Jersey | Anglicanism | |||
| Jordan | Islam | Islam | ||
| Kuwait | Islam | Islam | ||
| Laos | Buddhism | Buddhism | ||
| Lebanon | Other/mixed | There are 18 officially recognized religious groups in Lebanon, each with its own family law legislation and set of religious courts. | ||
| Liberia | none | Christianity | ||
| Libya | Islam | Islam | ||
| Liechtenstein | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Lithuania | none | Multiple | ||
| Luxembourg | Other/mixed | Luxembourg is a secular state, but the Grand Duchy recognizes and supports several denominations, including the Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Anglican and some Protestantism denominations as well as to Jewish congregations. | ||
| Malaysia | Islam | Islam | ||
| Maldives | Islam | Islam | ||
| Malta | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Mauritania | Islam | Islam | ||
| Moldova | none | Christianity | ||
| Monaco | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Mongolia | none | Buddhism | ||
| Morocco | Islam | Islam | ||
| Myanmar | Buddhism | Buddhism | ||
| Nicaragua | Other/mixed | Christianity | The Nicaraguan Constitution of 1987 states that the country has no official religion, but defines "Christian values" as one of the "principles of the Nicaraguan nation" | |
| Norway | Lutheranism | Christianity | ||
| Oman | Islam | Islam | ||
| Pakistan | Islam | Islam | ||
| Palestine | Islam | Islam | ||
| Panama | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Papua New Guinea | none | Christianity | ||
| Paraguay | Catholicism | |||
| Peru | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Poland | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Portugal | Other/mixed | Although Church and State are formally separate, the Catholic Church in Portugal still receives certain privileges. | ||
| Qatar | Islam | Islam | ||
| Romania | none | Christianity | ||
| Russia | Other/mixed | Christianity | Though a secular state under the constitution, Russia is often said to have Russian Orthodoxy as the de facto national religion, despite other minorities. | |
| Samoa | Christianity | Christianity | ||
| Saudi Arabia | Islam | Islam | ||
| Serbia | none | Multiple | ||
| Singapore | Other/mixed | Officially a secular country and does not have a state religion, and has been named in one study as the "most religiously diverse nation in the world", with no religious group forming a majority. However, the government gives official recognition to ten different religions. | ||
| Somalia | Islam | Islam | ||
| Spain | Catholicism | Christianity | ||
| Sri Lanka | Buddhism | Buddhism | ||
| Sweden | Lutheranism | |||
| Switzerland | Other/mixed | Switzerland is officially secular at the federal level but 24 of the 26 cantons support both the Swiss Reformed Church and the Roman Catholic Church in various ways. | ||
| Syria | Islam | Islam | ||
| Tajikistan | Islam | |||
| Thailand | Buddhism | |||
| Timor Leste | Catholicism | |||
| Togo | none | Multiple | ||
| Tonga | none | Multiple | ||
| Tunisia | Islam | Islam | ||
| Turkey | Islam | Islam | ||
| Turkmenistan | Islam | |||
| Tuvalu | Calvinism | Christianity | ||
| United Arab Emirates | Islam | Islam | ||
| United Kingdom | Anglicanism, Calvinism | Christianity | England - Anglicanism, Scotland - Calvinism | |
| Uzbekistan | Islam | |||
| Vatican City | Catholicism | Catholicism | ||
| Vietnam | Other/mixed | Vietnam is officially atheist (although sometimes also referred as atheist-Buddhist), but recognizes only 38 religious organizations and one dharma practice. | ||
| Yemen | Islam | Islam | ||
| Zambia | Christianity | Christianity |
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