How many Buddhists are there in the world?

The estimated number of Buddhists in the world is 488 million or more. They account for about 6 percent of the total world's population. Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world after Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and those holding non-religious views.

The Asia-Pacific region has the highest population of Buddhists in the world, with China and Thailand being home to the majority of them. There are more than a million Buddhists in North America and Europe.

Buddhists are the followers of Buddha or Siddharta Gautama. They do not believe in a personal god. There are many denominations of Buddhism, but the three largest are Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism.