07/06/2026
Buddhism is the only major religion whose follower count shrank between 2010 and 2020 down 19 million while every other faith grew. The cause is structural: a fertility rate of just 1.6 children per woman, the sole major religion below the 2.1 replacement threshold.
This is compounded by a net loss of 10 adherents per 100 raised Buddhist. Nearly all decline is in five East Asian societies China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong where 32 million followers were lost in a decade.
