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Buddhist Countries

Can you guess the countries where at least 15% of the population is Buddhist according to the Pew Research Center?
Quiz by HermanSilow
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Last updated: July 25, 2019
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First submittedMay 29, 2013
Times taken109,001
Average score85.7%
Rating4.96
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% Buddhist
Answer
96.9
Cambodia
93.2
Thailand
80.1
Myanmar
74.7
Bhutan
69.3
Sri Lanka
66.0
Laos
55.1
Mongolia
% Buddhist
Answer
36.2
Japan
33.9
Singapore
22.9
South Korea
21.3
Taiwan
18.2
China
17.7
Malaysia
16.4
Vietnam
+21
Level 56
Jun 24, 2013
Well that was fairly easy. I actually knew quite a few of these, but I still had to guess for some just based on geography.
+85
Level 59
Jun 29, 2017
I missed Laos. That makes me feel laosy.
+3
Level 63
Feb 2, 2021
hahhahahahhahah
+1
Level 25
Feb 20, 2022
Somehow missed both South Korea and Taiwan. I don’t want to sound like Xi, but damn Taiwan.
+1
Level 49
Dec 9, 2019
Same here, my guesses for the ones I didn't know where also geography-based.
+2
Level 38
Jun 25, 2013
Interesting quiz.. got them all right.
+14
Level 32
Aug 26, 2014
Surprised India wasn't on because that's where Buddhism originated.
+29
Level 82
Apr 24, 2015
gandalf is right. Religions spread and mutate and take hold in different places. Contemporary Christianity, the way we think of it today, is really not the Middle Eastern religion of Paul, and certainly not the Jewish Apocalypse/Personality Cult of Jesus, but it's actually a Roman religion, instituted by Constantine and spread to every corner of the Roman Empire using rituals, iconography, and even theology borrowed from traditional Roman polytheism. Rome, and Italy, and pretty much all of what was once the Roman Empire- the bits that were not conquered by Arabs anyway- are still predominantly Christian.

The earliest Christian communities, prior to the Roman absorption of the religion, were in Israel (now predominantly Jewish, large Muslim minority, small Christian minority), Syria (now predominantly Muslim, small Christian and tiny Jewish minorities), Turkey (predominantly Muslim), and Lebanon (mixed Muslim and Christian).

+16
Level 82
Apr 24, 2015
The first officially Christian countries were Armenia (adopted in 301 AD), the Roman Empire (adopted in 313 AD), and Aksum/Abyssinia (adopted in 330 AD). The city-state of Edessa became officially Christian around 218 AD.

If we consider Italy or Vatican City to be the modern day equivalent of Rome, and Ethiopia to be the modern day equivalent of Aksum, then all of these places are still Christian today except Edessa, in Turkey, which has no modern day nation-state equivalent.

+2
Level 82
Sep 22, 2022
(drunken gandalf's original response here went missing after his 1st account was deleted... I'm not talking about the Tolkien character)
+6
Level 68
Oct 10, 2023
I wonder what I could possibly have written for you to actually acknowledge that I was right, but regardless, what an honor!
+1
Level 44
Nov 22, 2022
False statement
+31
Level 61
Aug 27, 2015
VERY surprised Nepal wasn't on there.
+2
Level 69
Feb 26, 2016
I have a feeling that all the Tibetan exiles may not be counted.
+25
Level 55
Jul 7, 2018
A bit over 10 percent of Nepal's population is Buddhist, but Buddhism has been culturally influential in Nepal in ways that aren't really reflected by the small numbers. Buddhist minorities like the Sherpas and Tamang traditionally live in high mountains near Tibet; the geography doesn't support large populations, but Buddhist stupas and monasteries in Kathmandu have drawn pilgrims for over a thousand years, drawing Tibetans as well as Sherpas etc. Plus the community native to Kathmandu, the Newars, is part Hindu and part Buddhist (based on family lineage) and has a lot of intermingling of Buddhist and Hindu practices in unique ways. Also, Nepal is 81% Hindu and Hindus view Buddha as a form of Vishnu; I think that sense is even more prominent in Nepal because of pride in being Buddha's birthplace. So even though most Nepalis don't tick the "Buddhist" box on the census, Buddha occupies a powerful place in national identity.
+1
Level 38
Jun 10, 2016
hi bhutan hi...forgot you for some reason
+12
Level 41
Feb 6, 2017
forgot my own country lol (Sri Lanka)
+4
Level 77
Mar 27, 2017
Nepal?
+3
Level 43
Feb 15, 2022
Less than 15%. Hinduism is very dominant there.
+2
Level 79
Oct 10, 2023
See comments above for far more nuanced discussion
+2
Level 81
Mar 27, 2017
Very interesting quiz
+5
Level 69
Mar 28, 2017
I'm actually surprised that Vietnam is only 16%. Usually where there are indigenous religions, Buddhism just sort of syncretically absorbs/adapts them.
+12
Level 76
Jun 29, 2017
Communists there tried to crack down on it a lot. Same happened in China in the past. Even the communists in Laos tried, but people there took Buddhism so seriously there that the government had to stop.
+1
Level 48
Mar 12, 2020
That is pretty interesting, I am thinking about the reasons for the difference between Laos and Vietnam and it is pretty difficult to find them...
+3
Level 66
Jun 19, 2017
I don't know how they got these figures, but Vietnam is a lot higher than 16%.
+1
Level 53
Apr 4, 2021
Agreed! Y'all should visit Vietnam when it's the first day of Lunar New Year, sooooooooooo many Viets visit Buddhist pagodas at the time! Definitely more than 16%.
+2
Level 17
Jun 19, 2017
INDIA ?
+5
Level 67
May 17, 2021
NO ?
+1
Level 48
Jun 29, 2017
100%, 0:58 remaining
+8
Level 56
Jun 29, 2017
To any comments wondering why East Asian countries have such low percentages, a lot of people there are irreligious (Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam).
+4
Level 71
Sep 28, 2017
I would say 'have no religion', irreligious tends to sound hostile.
+18
Level 70
Sep 16, 2018
Why would it sound hostile?
+3
Level 65
Jan 28, 2019
I dont know but it does. Maybe because many words with -i(r) are negative, irresponsible, immoral. -un is much more neutral, or even non.
+1
Level 16
Oct 11, 2023
uncouth, uncivilized, unacceptable.

irresistible, irreplaceable.

+1
Level 62
Aug 27, 2019
is there a difference between irreligious and atheist?
+10
Level 70
Aug 27, 2019
Yes. Atheism is lacking belief in a god or gods, and irreligious means following no religion. Buddhists, for example, are mostly atheist but not irreligious. I know someone who believes in God but doesn't follow any religion. He would be irreligious but not atheist.
+2
Level 16
Oct 11, 2023
what??? buddhists are not athiest... they believe in lots of gods....
+2
Level 79
Oct 10, 2023
I don't think it's at all true that Buddhists are mostly atheist. Certainly in the West, but there are all kinds of deities in various strands of Buddhism around the world.
+1
Level 76
Jun 29, 2017
I was expecting Bhutan to be 95%+. Are there lots of indigenous religions there too?
+8
Level 89
Jun 29, 2017
A lot of people in the southern part practice Hinduism.
+2
Level 64
Jun 29, 2017
I expected Nepal to be one of the countries.
+1
Level 30
Jun 29, 2017
that quiz was fun, looking forward to more religion ones
+2
Level 41
Jun 30, 2017
Crap, forgot Singapore
+1
Level 10
Jul 20, 2017
I missed out Mongolia
+1
Level 63
Nov 9, 2017
According to the data - Macau has 17.3% Buddhist population, so it should be on the list.
+9
Level 27
Aug 12, 2020
Its not a country
+1
Level 45
Dec 24, 2017
Missed cambodia and malaysia.....
+1
Level 79
Jul 9, 2019
I thought Nepal was majority Buddhist.
+5
Level ∞
Jul 25, 2019
Hindu, actually
+1
Level 79
Dec 7, 2019
I see.
+3
Level 80
Dec 7, 2019
The ''only'' 18.2% of the Chinese population still make for about 250 million people!
+1
Level 16
Oct 11, 2023
it's really more like 1% or less.

The rest are people who occasionally go to a temple when they go on a vacation and then put some incense in the temple

+1
Level 37
Dec 8, 2019
I thought that the majority religion in Japan would be Shinto.
+3
Level 60
Dec 17, 2019
It is.
+4
Level 82
Mar 12, 2020
36% is not a majority (the % that is Buddhist), but moreover Buddhism and Shintoism are not mutually exclusive.
+2
Level 56
Jun 18, 2020
Sri Lanka - least guessed??? I didn't get all of them, but I did at least get that...
+2
Level 78
Jan 14, 2021
Well, that turned out to be far easier than it sounded.
+1
Level 70
Mar 10, 2021
This quiz: *exists*

Also existing: *sad nepal noises*

+2
Level 43
Feb 15, 2022
Nepal is mostly Hindu.
+2
Level 25
May 6, 2021
Missed Cambodia and myanmar and bhutan and sri lanka singapore and malaysia I feel very ISingI a pore
+1
Level 74
Sep 19, 2022
I mash the keyboard for words when I feell ignoaragnt too
+1
Level 72
Mar 8, 2024
Commas, please!
+1
Level 67
Aug 10, 2021
37 seconds remaining, Mongolia took me a while
+1
Level 48
Feb 17, 2022
14/14 with 1:22 left
+1
Level 24
Dec 5, 2022
oh yes, my country sri lanka. i am a buddist myself.
+1
Level 32
Dec 23, 2022
Forgot Myanmar for no reason.
+1
Level 61
Sep 10, 2023
Malaysia is on the list despite being Muslim-majority
+2
Level 75
Oct 10, 2023
The title is misleading, but the instructions clears it up.
+1
Level 16
Oct 11, 2023
I got all of them right.

Because Taiwan isn't a country.

+1
Level 88
Oct 13, 2023
Hey QM, any chance for an updated source? Looks like the pewforum link doesn't work any longer.
+1
Level 72
Mar 8, 2024
The original source link doesn't work anymore, it seems.

2010 data (which this quiz & Wikipedia currently uses) can be found here.

Pew also has religious composition estimates here, published in 2015.

+1
Level 72
Mar 8, 2024
It'd be great if we managed to find reliable sources to set up a standard & make a Jetpunk chart for religious data. I'm sceptical of Pew and its lack of permanence (lots of dead links when I was searching), but I haven't been able to find much else.