I would like to be advised about religious statistics such as global numbers of
Christianity in comparison to other religions and how the bible sells in
competition with the Koran?

Hi there,

Here's what I found for religions first, followed by the Koran vs
Bible figures.

2001 figures, according to the U.S. Center for World Mission:

2.05 Billion - Christians of all kinds 
1.21 Billion - Muslims 
1.07 Billion - Roman Catholics 
925 Million - Atheists & Nonreligious 
824 Million - Hindus 
657 Million - Evangelicals 
364 Million - Buddhists 
320 Million - Chinese Folk Religionists 
231 Million - Tribal Religionists 
200 Million - Other Religions 
24 Million - Sikhs 
14.5 Million - Jews 
http://www.epm.org/stats2001.html

Current figures according to the World Evangelization Research Center
(follow the link for historical and projected figures):

2.05 Billion - Christians of all kinds 
1.24 Billion - Muslims 
780 Million - Nonreligious
836 Million - Hindus 
367 Million - Buddhists
150 Million - Atheists 
24 Million - Sikhs 
14.6 Million - Jews 
http://www.gem-werc.org/index.htm

The Canadian Society of Muslims says that there are 1.2 Billion
Muslims worldwide at present, and their numbers are growing rapidly
http://muslim-canada.org/muslimstats.html

Bible vs Koran. Because these books are out of copyright, and
published by multitudes of different organizations, getting an
official figure would be impossible. Another problem is that many
editions are given away rather than sold. A third problem is that the
religions and publishers themselves would be prone to exaggerating the
figures.

Following Sept. 11, Bible sales rose, but so did sales of the Koran,
especially from online bookstores.
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/24/nbibl24.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/10/24/ixhomef.html

"The world's best selling and most widely distributed book is the
Bible, with an estimated 2.5 billion copies sold since 1815. It has
been translated into 233 languages and dialects."
taken from The Sun Times
http://www.suntimes.co.za/2001/04/22/readright/edu07.htm

Hightruth.com says that:

"In 1989, 600 million copies were sent out to a world population of
5.5 billion. The Bible has virtually saturated the world."
http://www.hightruth.com/faq/04bible.html

"The government of Saudi Arabia gives away free copies of the Koran
all over the world through Saudi embassies and Islamic centers. The
complex has shipped almost 120 million copies to date."
And currently 10-12 million per year:
http://www.metro-press.com/SAUDIARABIA/inprint.html

Or even more, Christianity Today magazine says:

"Muslim World League...churn out 28 million copies of the Koran every
year for worldwide distribution"
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/004/1.40.html

Perhaps it is worth keeping in mind that "Lord of the Rings" has sold
over 100 million copies since it first came out, and the Harry Potter
have sold over 122 million copies in a very short period.


Search strategy:

billion muslims christians
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=billion+muslims+christians

copies sold koran bible
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=copies+sold+koran+bible

Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

Christianity has about 2 million adherents and Islam about 1.2
million, meaning that those two religions make up about half of the
world's population.

Here is a good summary of the world religions, with links to their
beliefs and other information:

Religions of the World
http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm

mvguy probably means billion

There are 1.5 million Muslims in the UK (Runnymede Trust, 1997) or 1.8
(Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, Warwick University, so
billions it is

Yeah, I meant billions, not millions.

Dear FireFreak, 

Your question about the Bible and the Quran (spelled like that, not
the way you spelled it) is also problematic because the Bible has
different versions for Protestants, Catholics and Jews (as well as
other).