Index| Group | Where | Number of Adherents |
% of total pop. |
Number of congreg./ churches/ units |
Number of countries |
Year | Source | Quote/ Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agnostic | world | - | - | - | - | 1981 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 14. | "Agnosticism. The view that it is impossible for the human mind to know either that there is a god or that there is no god. Because the limits of the mind may not be the limits of the real, agnosticism does not necessarily imply atheism. " |
| Agnostic | world | - | - | - | - | 1994 | *LINK* Hexham, Irving. Concise Dictionary of Religion. Carol Stream, USA: InterVarsity Press (1994). (v. online 6 Oct. 1999) | "AGNOSTICISM: the doctrine that all knowledge of such entities as a divine BEING, IMMORTALITY, and a supernatural world is impossible. The word is attributed to the nineteenth century SKEPTIC, T. H. HUXLEY and is used by people who wish to avoid professing dogmatic ATHEISM. " |
| Agnostic | world | - | - | - | - | 1999 | Jacobs, Louis. Oxford Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (1999); pg. 4. | "Agnosticism: A term coined by T. H. Huxley to denote that attitude which, unlike theism (conviction that God exists) and atheism (conviction that God does not exist), maintains that it cannot be known whether or not God exists. Judaism, as a monotheistic religion, obviously rejects the agnostic attitude as it does that of atheism. This is not to say, however, that there are no unexplored areas in matters of beliefs. " |
| Agnostic | Wyoming | - | 0.50% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Agnostic | Zambia | - | - | - | - | 2004 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "According to a 2004 survey commissioned by the BBC, Hiorth (2001) Inglehart et al (2004, 1998), Barrett et al (2001), the 1999 Gallup International Poll, and Johnstone (1993), less than 1% of those in [33 African countries listed, including this one], are atheist, agnostic, or nonreligious. " |
| Agnostic | Zimbabwe | - | - | - | - | 2004 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "According to a 2004 survey commissioned by the BBC, Hiorth (2001) Inglehart et al (2004, 1998), Barrett et al (2001), the 1999 Gallup International Poll, and Johnstone (1993), less than 1% of those in [33 African countries listed, including this one], are atheist, agnostic, or nonreligious. " |
| Agon-shu | Japan | - | - | - | - | 1991 | *LINK* Wilson, Andrew (ed). "The World Religions and their Scriptures " in World Scripture. International Religious Foundation, 1991. (viewed 9 July 1999) | "Another new religion with Buddhist roots is Agon-shu, which uses the Dhammapada and other Theravada sutras as scripture combined with esoteric Shingon Buddhist practices. " |
| Agudat Israel World Organization | world | 500,000 | - | - | 25 countries |
1992 | Ovendale, Ritchie. The Longman Companion to The Middle East since 1914. London & New York: Longman (1992); pg. 269. | "Agudat Israel World Organization: Established in 1912 at the Congress of Orthodox Jewry held at Kattowitz in Germany (now Katowice, Poland) to assist Jewish people all over the world. At present has over 500,000 members in 25 countries. " |
| Agul | Russia: Dagestan | 19,000 | - | - | - | 1989 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 4 - Europe. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 294-295. | Table with 2 columns: "Ethnic Group " [not religious groups] & "Population "; Pg. 295: "Aside from the Mountain Jews and the Christian Cossacks, the peoples of Dagestan are almost exclusively Muslim. " |
| Agul | Russia: Dagestan | 12,000 | 0.60% | - | - | 1993 | Twining, David T. The New Eurasia: A Guide to the Republics of the Former Soviet Union. Westport, CT: Praeger (1993); pg. 52. | "Dagestan's more than 2 million residents range from half a million Avars to 12,000 Aguls. Most are Sunni Muslims, but Shiites, Jews, and a small group of Christians live there as well. " |
| Ahanta | Ghana | - | - | - | 1 country |
1995 | Haskins, J. From Afar to Zulu. New York: Walker Pub. (1995); pg. 191-7. | Table: Add'l African Cultures |
| Ahirs | India | 14,000,000 | 4.00% | - | - | 1931 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 22. | "The 1931 census placed the number of Ahirs and related castes at just over 14 million people, or roughly 4% of the population. " |
| Ahirs | India | 40,000,000 | 4.00% | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 22. | "The 1931 census placed the number of Ahirs and related castes at just over 14 million people, or roughly 4% of the population. Assuming that this percentage has not changed significantly, the current population would lie between 35 million and 40 million people. " |
| Ahirs | India | 40,000,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 22-23. | "Ahirs: Location: India (middle Ganges valley; state of Bihar, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh); Population: About 35-40 million; Religion: Hinduism "; "The majority of Ahirs are Hindu and share in the basic beliefs and practices of Hinduism. They belong mostly to the Vaishnava sect... In Bihar, however, many are Shaivites... Ahirs pay particular respect to, and are closely identified with, the legendary god Krishna. " [NOTE: This statistic is a measure of an ethnic/cultural group, not a distinct religion.] |
| Ahl-I Haqq | Iran | - | - | - | - | 1981 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 16. | "Ahl-I Haqq... Followers of a syncretistic religion with principal centers in western Iran. Extremist Shi'ite elements connect the sect with the Ali-Ilahi sect of the Shi'a, although Ali ibn Abi Talib is not their principal figure. They do not appear to be directly related with Isma'iliyya, because they always speak of the twelve Imams. Their religious system is based on additional sections of the Qur'an. They have adopted such Sufi rites as Dhikr, gathering and distribution of food, and brotherly union. Their religion has a popular, pietistic outlet in hagiographical legends, which have been collected in Kitah-i Saranjam in Persian. They also believe in seven successive manifestations of the divinity, continuing until the advent of the 'Master of the Age' who will fulfill the desires of the followers (see Mahdi). " |
| Ahmadiyya | Albania | 45,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Web site: "Mohibban-e-Mustafa Presents: Anti Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Homepage "; web page: "Ahmadiyya Movement Against Islam - An Overview "; "Friday, Aug. 25, 1995 "; by Syed Rashid Ali, Dibba AlFujairah, United Arab Emirates " | "...50,000 Muslims in Mali, 24,000 Muslims in Ivory Coast, 100,000 Bosnian Refugees in Europe and 45000 Albanians... " |
| Ahmadiyya | Canada | - | - | 20 units |
- | 1990 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 64. | "as of 1990 there were Ahmadiyya centers located in some thirty-five U.S. cities, mainly in the Northeast and the Midwest, with over twenty branch Jamaats in Canada. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | Canada | - | - | 7 units |
- | 1998 | *LINK* web site: "Muslim Television Ahmadiyya Home Page " (viewed 1998); [link broken when checked 27 Feb. 1999] | Counted missions and mosques listed on an official page |
| Ahmadiyya | Cote d'Ivoire | 24,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Web site: "Mohibban-e-Mustafa Presents: Anti Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Homepage "; web page: "Ahmadiyya Movement Against Islam - An Overview "; "Friday, Aug. 25, 1995 "; by Syed Rashid Ali, Dibba AlFujairah, United Arab Emirates " | "...50,000 Muslims in Mali, 24,000 Muslims in Ivory Coast, 100,000 Bosnian Refugees in Europe and 45000 Albanians... " |
| Ahmadiyya | Europe | 100,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Web site: "Mohibban-e-Mustafa Presents: Anti Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Homepage "; web page: "Ahmadiyya Movement Against Islam - An Overview "; "Friday, Aug. 25, 1995 "; by Syed Rashid Ali, Dibba AlFujairah, United Arab Emirates " | "...50,000 Muslims in Mali, 24,000 Muslims in Ivory Coast, 100,000 Bosnian Refugees in Europe and 45000 Albanians... " |
| Ahmadiyya | Germany | 25,000 | - | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* web site: "Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- und Informationsdienst e.V. " [REMID: Religious Studies Media and Information Service, Marburg, Germany]; web page: "Informationen und Standpunkte " (viewed 2 Aug. 1999). | Table: "Religious communities in Germany: Numbers of members " [data published July, 1999]; Listed as "Ahmadi " in table. Source: REMID.; Listed in 'Islam' section. |
| Ahmadiyya | Illinois: Chicago | 700 | - | - | - | 1930 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 189. | "Moslem Sunrise 3, no. 3 (July 1930): 11. Other notices in this issue of the journal discuss the visit of a missionary from India who converted 200, 650, or 700 of Chicago's citizens, indicating (p. 34) that they were 'Turks, negroes and a few whites.' " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | India | - | - | - | - | 1889 | Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. New York: Doubleday (1996); pg. 436. | "The Ahmadiya sect, founded in 1889 by the Punjabi Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), is also reform-minded. Ahmad taught that Jesus was taken down from the cross while still alive and lived out his days in Kashmir in northern India. " |
| Ahmadiyya | Mali | 50,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Web site: "Mohibban-e-Mustafa Presents: Anti Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Homepage "; web page: "Ahmadiyya Movement Against Islam - An Overview "; "Friday, Aug. 25, 1995 "; by Syed Rashid Ali, Dibba AlFujairah, United Arab Emirates " | "...50,000 Muslims in Mali, 24,000 Muslims in Ivory Coast, 100,000 Bosnian Refugees in Europe and 45000 Albanians... " |
| Ahmadiyya | North America | 4,000 | - | - | - | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 49. | "Ahmadi Muslims in the United States and Canada number between three and four thousand, including both Pakistani immigrants and native converts, mainly African Americans. " |
| Ahmadiyya | Pakistan | 2,000,000 | 1.42% | - | - | 1995 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 612-614. | "Location: Pakistan; Population: 140.5 million... (1995 estimate) "; Pg. 614: "The Ahmadiyas... Numbering over 2 million people, they face considerable discrimination and anti-Ahmadiya sentiment from other Pakistanis. " |
| Ahmadiyya | Saskatchewan: Saskatoon | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1998 | *LINK* web site: Saskatoon Free-Net:Religion (viewed 1998) | citywide religion directory for Saskatoon & area |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | - | - | - | - | 1933 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 63. | "by 1933 they had extended the major centers of the Ahmadiyya community from Chicago to New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Kansas City. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | 10,000 | - | - | - | 1940 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 63. | "By 1940 Ahmadiyya members in the U.S. had grown to between five and ten thousand. At this time the Ahmadis' most important mission centers were in Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | 10,000 | - | - | - | 1980 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 184. | "Some Ahmadi officials put the figure considerably higher. M. A. Rashid Yahya, missionary to the midwest region in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, said several years ago that there were more than 10,000 Ahmadis in the U.S. alone. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | 12,000 | - | - | - | 1982 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 188. | "Charles S. Braden, 'Islam in America,' 313. The Imam of the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C., reported in 1982 that he estimated some 3 to 4 thousand black families were members of the Ahmadiyya movement & that they well outnumbered the white families. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | - | - | 35 units |
- | 1990 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 64. | "as of 1990 there were Ahmadiyya centers located in some thirty-five U.S. cities, mainly in the Northeast and the Midwest, with over twenty branch Jamaats in Canada. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | - | - | 35 units |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. "Ahmadi centers are located in 35 cities in the U.S. " [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya | USA | - | - | 26 units |
- | 1998 | *LINK* web site: "Muslim Television Ahmadiyya Home Page " (viewed 1998); [link broken when checked 27 Feb. 1999] | Counted missions and mosques listed on an official page |
| Ahmadiyya | world | - | - | - | - | 1914 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 16. | "...Ahmadiyya. In 1914 a split, due as much to personal antagonisms as doctrinal differences, evolved between the Qadiyani and Lahori branches of the movement, and persists to the present day. " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | - | - | - | - | 1981 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 16. | "...zealously missionary in outlook and organization, accounting for the diffusion of Ahmadi communities throughout the Western world, Africa, and Asia. " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | 10,000,000 | - | - | 117 countries |
1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 49. | "...the Ahmadiyya community, which claims some ten million adherents located in 117 countries, particularly in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia as well as parts of East and West Africa. " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | - | - | - | - | 1994 | *LINK* Hexham, Irving. Concise Dictionary of Religion. Carol Stream, USA: InterVarsity Press (1994). (v. online 6 Oct. 1999) | "AHMADYA: an Islamic SECT... established in nineteenth century India by MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD... The movement's MISSIONS have spread to many parts of the world " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | 10,000,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Web site: "Mohibban-e-Mustafa Presents: Anti Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Homepage "; web page: "Ahmadiyya Movement Against Islam - An Overview "; "Friday, Aug. 25, 1995 "; by Syed Rashid Ali, Dibba AlFujairah, United Arab Emirates " | "It has branches in all countries and all major cities of the world... Today Ahmadiyya... asserts having a community strength of 10 million qadianis/ahmadis all over the world. 99.99% are converts from Islam!! " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | - | - | - | - | 1996 | Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. New York: Doubleday (1996); pg. 437. | "The Ahmadiyas engage in extensive missionary work in the U.S. and elsewhere... " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | 10,000,000 | - | - | 143 countries |
1997 | *LINK* web page: "Ahmadiyya Homepage " (unofficial); (viewed 1998) | "At present, its total membership exceeds 10 million worldwide, and the numbers are increasing day by day. Within the last 12 months (from August 1996 to July 1997), more than 3 million individuals joined the Movement. " |
| Ahmadiyya | world | 10,000,000 | - | - | 152 countries |
1998 | *LINK* web site: "Muslim Television Ahmadiyya Home Page " (viewed 1998); [link broken when checked 27 Feb. 1999] | At present, its total membership exceeds 10 million worldwide, and the numbers are increasing day by day. Within the last 12 months (from August 1996 to July 1997), more than 3,000,000 persons joined true Islam (Ahmadiyya Movement) |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Arizona | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Illinois | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Michigan | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Missouri | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Ohio | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Pennsylvania | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Spain | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1982 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 49. | "The first mosque to be build in Spain since the end of Muslim rule there over half a millennium ago was the one constructed by the Ahmadiyya in 1982. " |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | USA | - | - | 7 units |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | Washington, D.C. | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 190. | "Presently there are 7 mosques in America: the American Fazl Mosque in Washington, D.C... " Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago. [Qadiani Jamaat] |
| Ahmadiyya - mosques | world | - | - | 500 units |
- | 1993 | Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck & Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America; Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida (1993); pg. 49. | "In many places Ahmadiyya mosques were the first, and perhaps are still the only Islamic mosques in the area. As of the early 1990s there were more than 500 such houses of worship in the world, most of the major cities of Europe have Ahmadiyya mosques. " |
| Ainu | Japan | 23,797 | - | - | - | 1807 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 26. | "An 1807 survey reported the Hokkaido and Sakhalin Ainu population as 23,797. Mixed marriages between Ainu and mainland Japanese became more common over the last century. In 1986 the total number of people in Hokkaido identifying themselves as Ainu was 24,381. " |
| Ainu | Japan | - | - | - | - | 1981 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 17. | "Ainu religion: The Ainu people, are the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan who were, from about the seventh century A.D., gradually driven northward by the Japanese. By the Meiji era (late nineteenth century) they were found only in the northernmost of the main islands of the Japanese archipelago, Hokkaido. Since that time the tendency has been for them to be assimilated by the dominant Japanese culture. " |
| Ainu | Japan | 24,381 | - | - | - | 1986 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 26. | "Mixed marriages between Ainu and mainland Japanese became more common over the last century. In 1986 the total number of people in Hokkaido identifying themselves as Ainu was 24,381. " [Ainus had a distinctive religion. But these statistics are measures of ethnic/cultural affiliation, not how many practice Ainu religion.] |
| Ainu | Japan | - | - | - | - | 1992 | Peddicord, Kathleen (ed). The World's Best: The Ultimate Book for the International Traveler. Baltimore, MD: Agora, Inc. (1992); pg. 295. | "Hokkaido is also known as the home of the Ainu, a fast-disappearing people originally from Honshu who have been forced north into the mountains. The Ainu are Caucasians, who, unlike other Japanese, have light skin and hairy bodies. The men often have thick beards, and the women have blue tattoos around their mouths. The best place to see their huts and their rituals of worship--the Ainu practice a form of nature worship influenced by Shintoism--is a small colony in Asahikawa, Hokkaido's 2nd-largest city. You also can visit a display village in Shiraoi, near Noboribetsu Spa on the south coast. " |
| Ainu | Japan | - | - | - | - | 1996 | Bocking, Brian. A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Surrey, England: Curzon (1996); pg. 1. | "Ainu: Or emishi, (y)ezo). Indigenous inhabitants of Japan who were gradually pushed back to the northern island of Hokkaido by Japanese expansionist wars. Hokkaido was fully colonised by the Japanese only in the 20th century. Ainu culture is different from Japanese, but there have been many cross-influences in the long course of Japanese-Ainu relations... The best-known Ainu festival is the iyomante or kuma matsuri (bear sacrifice festival). " |
| Ainu | Japan | - | - | - | - | 1997 | Leibo, Steven A. East, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific 1997 (The World Today Series). Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: Stryker-Post Publications (1997); pg. 47. | "Ethnic Background:... There is a very small community of Ainu on Hokkaido Island who are physically very different from the Japanese, possibly descended from the earliest inhabitants of the islands. " |
| Ainu | Japan | 25,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 26. | "Ainu: Location: Japan (Hokkaido); Population: 25,000; Religion: Traditional pantheistic beliefs "; "As with indigenous people in the U.S. and many other nations, the Ainu have largely assimilated. And like many other such groups, there have been signs of cultural revival recently. " [Ainus had a distinctive religion. But these statistics are measures of ethnic/cultural affiliation, not how many practice Ainu religion.] |
| Ainu | world | 17,000 | - | - | - | 1957 | Pinney, Roy. Vanishing Tribes. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. (1968); pg. 55. | "As of 1957 they totaled less than seventeen thousand, but the number of pure-blood Ainu may be no more than a few thousand. IN addition to intermarriage, for the last few centuries women have made a practice of adopting Japanese babies and raising them as their own. Because of this mixing, the Ainu often resemble the Japanese, but in their pure form they present quite a different appearance. "; Pg. 62: "Today, due to the influence of missionaries and the prohibitions of governments, [the bear] ceremony is practically a thing of the past. Soon the whole Ainu way of life will be gone, and possibly the genetic distinctiveness of this group as well. " |
| Ais | North America - Gulf Coasts and Tidal Swamps | 400 | - | - | - | 1650 | Terrell, John Upton. American Indian Almanac. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. (1974); pg. 93. | Table: "Gulf Coasts and Tidal Swamps: Earliest Population Estimates " (mainly relying on James Mooney, John R. Swanson, & A. L. Kroeber); "Ais (1650): 400 (?) " |
| Ais | world | 400 | - | - | - | 1650 | Terrell, John Upton. American Indian Almanac. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. (1974); pg. 93. | Table: "Gulf Coasts and Tidal Swamps: Earliest Population Estimates " (mainly relying on James Mooney, John R. Swanson, & A. L. Kroeber); "Ais (1650): 400 (?) " |
| Aiyetoro Community | Nigeria | - | - | - | - | 1970 | Wilson, Bryan. "Communistic Religious Movements " in Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, vol. 4. (Richard Cavendish, ed.) New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp. (1970).; pg. 502. | "A number of other communistic religious sects have flourished... An outstanding case from Africa is the Aiyetoro Community in Nigeria. This sect was constituted by seceders from the revivalist movement known as Cherubim and Seraphim. They established themselves on the coast, and organized a communist system of production. Within a few years, their fishing enterprise had produced considerable profit, and the plain uniforms of the early days were abandoned for dress of individual choice. The community is essentially religious, and although it has a living standard far higher than the Nigerian average, it has maintained its collective services and its community structure. " |
| Aizo | Benin | - | - | - | 1 country |
1995 | Haskins, J. From Afar to Zulu. New York: Walker Pub. (1995); pg. 191-7. | Table: Add'l African Cultures |
| Ajivikas | India | - | - | - | - | -550 B.C.E. | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 310. | "...Ajivikas... made their appearance in or around the sixth century B.C... " |
