6,000 years, one ribbon

Interactive Timeline

Each ribbon is a tradition, from its birth to today (or its quiet end). Dotted lines mark schisms; the † marks faiths now gone. Click any tradition to dive in.

Global religious populations

Eight unified categories across sparse anchor years. Scrub or play to explore — values tween smoothly between real measurements only.

ChristianityIslamHinduismBuddhismFolk ReligionsOther ReligionsJudaismUnaffiliated

Year1948

Christianity855M

Folk Religions595M

Islam339M

Hinduism315M

Buddhism176M

Unaffiliated163M

World pop. 2.50B

19002026 · last estimate2075

Anchor years only — animation eases between measured points, not fabricated yearly census data. Beyond 2026, hatched areas are projections from Pew 2015 and CSGC 2026 models.

All 44 traditions

Sumerian Religion

† Extinct

3,500 BCE – 500 BCE

The cradle of written myth, city-gods and ziggurats.

Ancient Egyptian Religion

† Extinct

3,000 BCE – 500 CE

Pharaohs, mummification, and the weighing of the heart.

Zoroastrianism

1,500 BCE – present

The first great monotheism — light against darkness.

Canaanite Religion

† Extinct

2,000 BCE – 500 BCE

El, Baal, Asherah — the gods of the Levant.

Greco-Roman Religion

† Extinct

800 BCE – 500 CE

Olympus, oracles, and the rites of the polis.

Norse Paganism

† Extinct

500 BCE – 1,100 CE

Odin, Thor, Valhalla, and Ragnarök.

Celtic Druidism

† Extinct

400 BCE – 600 CE

Druids, sacred groves, and the wheel of the year.

Manichaeism

† Extinct

240 CE – 1,400 CE

A world religion of light and darkness, from Persia to China.

Tengrism

1,000 BCE – present

Eternal Blue Sky — the faith of the steppe.

Mithraism

† Extinct

100 CE – 400 CE

The mystery cult of the bull-slayer Mithras.

Gnosticism

† Extinct

100 CE – 400 CE

Secret knowledge (gnosis) and a flawed material world.

Mesoamerican Religion

† Extinct

1,200 BCE – 1,697 CE

Aztec and Maya cosmology of cyclical time and cosmic sacrifice.

Slavic & Baltic Paganism

† Extinct

500 BCE – 1,387 CE

Perun's thunder and the last pagan holdout of Europe.

Hinduism

2,000 BCE – present

The oldest living religion — many paths to one truth.

Buddhism

500 BCE – present

The Middle Way to the end of suffering.

Jainism

600 BCE – present

Radical nonviolence and the soul's absolute freedom.

Sikhism

1,500 CE – present

One creator, equality, and honest work.

Judaism

1,800 BCE – present

The covenant between one God and a people.

Christianity

30 CE – present

Salvation through Christ, God incarnate.

Islam

610 CE – present

Submission to the will of Allah.

Bahá'í Faith

1,863 CE – present

One faith, one humanity, evolving revelation.

Mandaeism

100 CE – present

Baptism in living water and the last Gnostics of the marshes.

Samaritanism

450 BCE – present

The smallest living branch of ancient Israelite religion.

Taoism

500 BCE – present

Flowing with the Tao — the way of the universe.

Confucianism

500 BCE – present

Ethics, ritual, and the cultivation of virtue.

Shinto

300 BCE – present

The way of the kami — Japan's indigenous faith.

Cheondogyo

1,860 CE – present

Korea's 'Religion of the Heavenly Way.'

Chinese Folk Religion

1,500 BCE – present

Ancestors, local gods, and the fabric of everyday Chinese life.

Cao Đài

1,926 CE – present

Vietnam's 'Third Amnesty' — one God behind every faith.

Bön

1,000 CE – present

Tibet's pre-Buddhist religion of sky, spirits, and the Nine Ways.

Yazidism

1,100 CE – present

The peacock angel and a people of the mountains.

Druze

1,000 CE – present

An esoteric Levantine faith, monotheistic and secret.

Santería

1,700 CE – present

Yoruba orisha devotion in the Caribbean.

Yoruba Religion

200 BCE – present

Olodumare and the orishas of West Africa.

Haitian Vodou

1,700 CE – present

Bondye, the lwa, and the ancestors of Haiti.

Inuit Religion

1,000 BCE – present

Sedna of the sea, shamans, and animal souls.

Navajo (Diné) Spirituality

1,300 CE – present

Hózhó — beauty, balance, and the Blessingway.

Māori Religion

1,300 CE – present

Io the supreme, ancestors, and the web of mana.

Aboriginal Dreaming

40,000 BCE – present

The world's oldest continuous religion.

Ifá (Yoruba Divination)

300 BCE – present

The wisdom oracle of the Yoruba and beyond.

Candomblé

1,800 CE – present

Orixá worship reborn in Brazil's terreiros.

Stoicism

300 BCE – present

Virtue as the only good; master your judgments.

Wicca

1,950 CE – present

A modern pagan witchcraft of nature and duality.

Rastafari

1,930 CE – present

Zion, Babylon, and the divinity of Haile Selassie.