Ramey/H5M, 2. How Many People Follow Hinduism?

Simple estimates for the number of Hindus in the world hover around 1 billion people (about fifteen percent of the world’s population in 2020). The majority of people who identify as Hindu live in India and Nepal (where about 80% of the population identifies as such), with significant populations in other parts of South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka) and various sites of migration, from Southeast Asia and the Arabian peninsula to the Caribbean, among other places. This question, however, raises a variety of debates about who counts as a Hindu or what it means to “follow Hinduism.” In fact, significant tension exists between self-reports of identities (I am Hindu) and participation in practices associated with Hinduism (I follow some Hindu traditions).