China Religion Data Integration Report

Methodology

This report integrates three data sources:

  1. China 2020 Census (C02-22): 56 officially recognized ethnic groups with populations
  2. Joshua Project: 547 people groups in China with religion data
  3. Religion Gist: 8-category national-level religion distribution

Religion by Major Ethnic Group

EthnicityPopulationPrimary ReligionSecondary
Han1,284,446,389Chinese Traditional / Non-religiousBuddhism
Zhuang19,568,546Animism / MoismChinese Traditional
Uyghur11,774,538IslamNone
Hui11,377,914IslamNone
Miao11,067,929AnimismChristianity
Manchu10,423,303Chinese Traditional / Non-religiousShamanism
Yi9,830,327Animism / BimoismChristianity
Tujia9,587,732Chinese Traditional / AnimismNone
Tibetan7,060,731Buddhism (Tibetan)Bon
Mongol6,290,204Buddhism (Tibetan)Shamanism
Buyei3,576,752AnimismChinese Traditional
Dong3,495,993AnimismNone
Yao3,309,341Animism / TaoismNone
Bai2,091,543Chinese Traditional / BuddhismNone
Hani1,733,166AnimismNone
Korean1,702,479Non-religious / ChristianityBuddhism
Li1,602,104AnimismNone
Kazakh1,562,518IslamNone
Dai1,329,985Buddhism (Theravada)Animism
Undistinguished836,488UnknownNone

Aggregate Religion Distribution

ReligionEstimated Population% of Total
Chinese Traditional / Non-religious1,294,869,69291.8%
Islam25,951,0941.8%
Animism23,820,7011.7%
Animism / Moism19,568,5461.4%
Buddhism (Tibetan)13,647,5691.0%
Animism / Bimoism9,830,3270.7%
Chinese Traditional / Animism9,587,7320.7%
Animism / Taoism3,309,3410.2%
Chinese Traditional / Buddhism2,124,6550.2%
Non-religious / Christianity1,702,4790.1%
Buddhism (Theravada)1,523,4590.1%

Note: Total census population = 1,409,778,724. Religion percentages sum to ~100% of ethnic groups but individual adherence is fluid.

Data Quality Caveats

  1. Joshua Project is missionary-focused — prioritizes "unreached" groups; data may be biased
  2. Religion is fluid in China — many practice multiple traditions simultaneously
  3. Han folk religion — majority practice Chinese folk religion, often classified as "non-religious" in surveys
  4. Christianity estimates — may undercount house churches and unregistered congregations
  5. NBS does not collect religion data — all religion figures are estimates from external sources
  6. JP population estimates — may not match census figures; use census figures as authoritative
  7. Cleaned mapping (T12) — False positives removed from census_to_jp_mapping.json (v2). See cleanup report for full rationale.