5. Religious switching into and out of Hinduism

Terminology

Throughout this report, religious switching refers to a change between the religious group in which a person says they were raised (during their childhood) and their religious identity now (in adulthood). The rates of religious switching are based on responses to two survey questions we asked of adults ages 18 and older:

• “What is your current religion, if any?”
• “Thinking about when you were a child, in what religion were you raised, if any?”

The responses to these two questions allow us to calculate what percentage of the public has left a religious group (or “switched out”) and what percentage has entered (or “switched in”). This kind of switching can take place without any formal rite or ceremony.

We have analyzed switching into and out of five widely recognized, worldwide religions to allow for consistent comparisons around the globe. Specifically, this report analyzes change between the following groups: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, other religions, religiously unaffiliated adults, and those who did not answer the question.

For example, someone who was raised Buddhist but now identifies as Christian would be considered as having switched religions – as would someone who was raised Christian but is now unaffiliated.

However, switching within a religious tradition, such as between Catholicism and Protestantism, is not captured in this report. (Refer to Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study for an analysis of switching in the United States that does count some switching within Christianity. Read “4 facts about religious switching within Judaism in Israel” for an analysis of switching within Judaism.)

Religiously unaffiliated refers to people who answer a question about their current religion (or their upbringing) by saying they are (or were raised as) atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” This category is sometimes called “no religion” or “nones.”

Other religions is an umbrella category. It contains a wide variety of religions that are not in the other categories and that have survey sample sizes too small to analyze separately in most countries. This includes Sikhism, Jainism, the Baha’i faith, African traditional religions, Native American religious traditions, and others.

Disaffiliation rates refer to the percentage of adults who say they were raised in a religion but are now religiously unaffiliated (or have no religion).

Net gains/losses are the differences between the percentage of survey respondents who say they were raised in a particular religious category (as children) and the percentage who identify with that same category at the time of the survey (as adults). The “net” gain or loss takes into account both sides of the equation – those who have left and those who have entered the group.

Retention rates show, among all the people who say they were raised in a particular religious group, the percentage who still describe themselves as belonging to that group today.

Accession rates (also called entrance rates) show, among all the people who describe themselves as belonging to a particular religious group today, the percentage who were raised in some other group.

This section explores religious switching into and out of Hinduism, reviewing where Hinduism has had the largest net gains and losses, what percentage of adults who were raised Hindu are still Hindu (i.e., retention rates), which religious groups those who have left Hinduism have switched into, and where Hinduism has the largest shares of new entrants (i.e., the highest accession rates).

Of the 36 countries surveyed, just four have sufficient sample sizes to allow analysis of religious switching into and out of Hinduism: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the United States.¹⁹

Net gains and losses for Hinduism

• Very small shares of the overall population in any of the countries analyzed have left or joined Hinduism. In the U.S., Hindus are a small share of the population to begin with (1%).

Remaining Hindu

• The Hindu retention rate is high in all the places analyzed, but there is some variation.
• Nearly all people who were raised Hindu in India and Bangladesh still identify as Hindu today.
• In Sri Lanka, roughly nine-in-ten people who were brought up as Hindus have retained that identity, as have about eight-in-ten in the U.S.

Leaving Hinduism

• Of the countries surveyed, the highest shares of people raised Hindu who no longer identify as Hindu are in the U.S. (18%) and Sri Lanka (11%).
• In Sri Lanka, most who have left Hinduism now identify as Christians. In the U.S., 11% of people who were raised Hindu are now religiously unaffiliated (i.e., they identify religiously as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) and 6% are Christians.

Entering Hinduism

• Most people who currently identify as Hindu say they were raised as Hindus, resulting in low “accession” (or entrance) rates into Hinduism across the four countries analyzed.
• The U.S. has the highest accession rate, with 8% of Hindu American adults saying they were raised outside of Hinduism.

Where has Hinduism experienced the largest net gains or losses from religious switching?

Across the four countries analyzed, relatively few people (at least, as a percentage of the overall public in each country) have either left or entered Hinduism.²⁰

For instance, in India, the country with the world’s largest Hindu population, roughly equal shares of Indians say they were raised Hindu (84%) and currently identify as Hindu (83%). Only 1% of all Indian adults have left Hinduism, and a similarly small share have become Hindus after having been raised in another religion or with no affiliation.²¹

In the U.S., just 1% of adults were raised Hindu, and the percentage of all U.S. adults who have left Hinduism rounds to zero – as does the percentage who have switched into Hinduism.

What percentage of people raised Hindu are still Hindu?

The Hindu retention rate is high in all the countries where it can be measured. For example, in Bangladesh and India, nearly all adults who were raised Hindu still identify as Hindu today (99% each).²²

Which religious groups have former Hindus switched to?

Analyzing retention rates also reveals the religious groups that former Hindus have joined. In the U.S., 18% of U.S. adults who were raised Hindu no longer identify as Hindu – including 11% who are now religiously unaffiliated, 6% who describe themselves as Christians and 1% who now identify as Muslims.

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, 8% of adults who were raised Hindu now identify as Christians, while equal shares describe themselves as unaffiliated, Muslims or Buddhists (1% each).

Where does Hinduism have the largest shares of new entrants?

Most people who currently identify as Hindus say they were raised Hindu. For example, all the Bangladeshi Hindus surveyed say they were raised Hindu.

As such, the “accession” (or entrance) rates into Hinduism are low across the four countries with sufficient sample sizes to analyze.

The U.S. has the highest accession rate, with 8% of Americans who currently identify as Hindu saying they were raised outside of Hinduism, including many who were raised Christian (5% of all Hindu Americans).²³