India has the largest Hindu population in the world. Hindus form almost 80+% of the country's population. Hinduism is not the religion of the State (government). With around 930 million followers, Hindus would become the fourth largest country in the world, immediately after India !
India is home to more Muslims than only Indonesia, as per 2001 census. As per the most recent available statistics (pending the 2011 census) there are an estimated 165 million Muslims, but that puts India behind only Indonesia and Pakistan. That is more than the combined population of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen; the middle-east arab nations.
India is home to over 26 million Christians. That is more than most countries in Europe, except the top 9 (including Russia). Christianity reached in India, with the arrival of St. Thomas in 52 AD.
India is also the lab for Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism;
Buddhism is probably the biggest religious export from India. There are about 250-500 million Buddhists, of which only about 12 million reside in India.
Jainism is one of the oldest religion, but there are only about 6 millions Jains in the world, with more than 80% living in India.
Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, the youngest with a large following of about 26 million, of which 22 million live in India.
India is home now to Zoroastrianism and houses the largest number of followers. India also has the largest followers of the Bahai faith, numbering about 2.2 million people.
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