Hindus are the fourth-largest religious category, after Christians, Muslims and religiously unaffiliated people. The Asia-Pacific region is home to 99% of the global Hindu population, with around 95% of all Hindus living in India. Hindus are the largest religious group in India, Nepal and Mauritius.
Global change
The number of Hindus worldwide grew 12% from 2010 to 2020, rising from a little less than 1.1 billion to nearly 1.2 billion. Since non-Hindus grew at about the same rate, Hindus remained stable as a percentage or share of the global population.
Regional change
Over the decade from 2010 to 2020, the number (or count) of Hindus grew most quickly in the Middle East-North Africa region, to 3.2 million (up 62%). In North America, the Hindu population rose to 3.6 million (up 55%).
In these regions, Hindus grew at a faster rate than the non-Hindu population, and growth was primarily driven by migrants moving to wealthy countries – such as the United States and the United Arab Emirates – for economic opportunities. Europe also saw a considerable increase, to 2.2 million (up 30%).
As a share of regional populations, Hindus grew modestly in the Asia-Pacific region (up 0.4 points) and in North America (up 0.3 percentage points). Hindus made up roughly one-quarter of the total population of Asia and the Pacific at the end of the decade.
Regional distribution of Hindus
As of 2020, the Asia-Pacific region continues to be home to the vast majority of the world’s Hindus (99%). The remaining Hindus live mostly in North America or the Middle East-North Africa region, where they make up 0.3% in each region.
There was a subtle shift in the geographic concentration of Hindus between 2010 and 2020. The share of the world’s Hindus living in Asia and the Pacific fell slightly (down 0.2 points), while the percentage of Hindus residing in North America and the Middle East-North Africa region inched up, each by 0.1 point.
Countries with the highest Hindu counts
India – the birthplace of Hinduism – has more Hindu residents than any other country, with 95% (or 1.1 billion) of the global Hindu population.
As of 2020, Hindus make up a majority in two countries, India (79%) and Nepal (81%). They are a religious minority in eight of the 1o countries with the largest numbers of Hindus.
Outside the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. has the largest number of Hindus (3.0 million), followed by the United Kingdom (1.1 million) and the UAE (1.1 million).
Aside from India and Nepal, the only other country in which Hindus are the largest group is Mauritius, where 48% of the population is Hindu. However, Mauritius’ Hindu population of 620,000 isn’t enough to make the list of the 10 countries with the most Hindus.
Where did the Hindu share of the population change the most?
The share of the population identifying as Hindu did not increase or decrease substantially (by at least 5 percentage points) in any country or territory. Migration fueled modest changes in some countries, including an exodus of ethnic Indians from Fiji and an influx of Hindu migrants to Oman. Hindu shares of the population also declined slightly in the South Asian nations of India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. But none of these changes reached the 5-point threshold.
Recommended Citation: Hackett, Conrad, Marcin Stonawski, Yunping Tong, Stephanie Kramer, Anne Shi and Dalia Fahmy. 2025. “How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020.” Pew Research Center. doi: 10.58094/fj71-ny11.
