What's the Bible popularity percentage-wise of each country?

You ask a lot of Religious Questions….along with questions about war.
India=muslim
Vatican City=Roman Catholic

Other than google, I don’t even have any idea how you’d get an answer to this question. I don’t know of any type of census for bible owners/readers.

Here is your question on google to help you look for an answer.

hmm sounds like a job for the turk.
if you’re not familiar with Amazon Turk, you should check it out – fantastic idea & wonderfully implemented, if you ask me (too bad that wasn’t the question)

@90s_kid – India != muslim. Please get your facts straight before you make such comments. India = name of a country. As for the religious diversity in India, there are many different religious groups there, with Islam being practiced by about 12% of the national population.

This is a very broad question. For instance, three major religions count the Bible as a holy book, or at least portions of it, but I’m not sure that would count as the Bible being “popular.” There are also people that read it who aren’t religious at all.

Perhaps this site would have some answers for you if you poke around it enough. It’s pretty useful for some things, Internet arguments not the least.

I’m not sure I can answer the question but I can tell you that the bible has been translated into over 2,000 different languages.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSL2875626420080428

Indian people are muslim, though.
And hindu.

@90s_kid – Most of the people in India who were Muslim seem to have moved to Pakistan when they separated the two.

@90s_kid and sikh, among other things. Looks like kevbo has come the closest to answering this question so far. Good work kev!!

Dziękuję – Thank You

@kevbo and those who went to his link

I find it interesting how they measured “bible literacy”. Reuters was only asking how often someone read the bible, and how often they went to church and what not.

It is interesting that America becomes one of the most bible illiterate countries when actually asked questions about what they are reading.

[pdf] Here is a PDF on the subject.

Another Site

So just because the bible might be the most popular in america. It might the most popular because people aren’t actually understanding and retaining what they are reading.

Now for some interesting stats:

Fewer than half of american’s can name the first book of the bible.
Only 1/3 know who delivered the sermon on the mount (Many people answered Billy Graham)
1/4 did not know what Easter celebrated

In 1997 12% of americans answered Joan of Arc for the name of Noah’s wife. (I love that one)
In 2000 80% were able to answer the ingredients of a big mac, but only 60% could name the 6th commandment.

This is an accurate description of “bible literacy” in america.

@Noon that is some interesting information, but I still think the following passage in kevbo’s answer gave the asker more of the type of information he was looking for.

Asked if they had read a phrase from the Bible in the past 12 months, 75 percents of American respondents said yes, while between 20 percent and 38 percent of respondents in the other eight countries said yes.

The lowest were Spain with 20 percent, France with 21 percent, Italy with 27 percent, and Germany with 28 percent.

Results were similar when respondents were asked if they had read a book with a religious theme in the past 12 months. Fifty-eight percent of Americans said yes. Poland was second with 50 percent and the other countries came in between 22 and 35 percent.

@scamp
Totally. Kevbo go the answer to the question dead on. My post was in relation to the use of the word “literacy” in kevbo’s link. I do find it interesting even though 92% of american’s actually own a bible, and that 75% have read a phrase in it in the past year. They are for the most part ignorant to its content.

@Noon I agree! I was amazed when I read in the pdf you posted how many people could name All four Beatles, but not a single commandment. And it’s pretty pitiful the number of people who don’t know what the first book is called. Those facts were really eye openers!!

Difficult question. For instance, I understand that for Sweden around 73% are members of the Lutheran church (national church up until recently, and all Swedes automatic members unless you sign out), but repeated polling suggests less than 20% believe in a personal god. Essentially they are akin to cultural Christians. So in this case they may own a copy of the bible (from grandma perhaps), may have read some verses, but do not believe any of the central tenents of Christianity (other than the universal ones of being nice to people), nor do the majority of them believe in god.

I mean I read a phrase from the bible last week and Im an atheist (I also read something from the Koran), not sure what can be inferred from answering this question.

Anyways, perhaps this is of interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christian_percentage_by_country.png

Reading “a phrase from the Bible” doesn’t necessarily mean reading the Bible directly. You can find verses on plaques, CDs, in other books, inspirational posters, heck, they’re even on personal checks nowadays. You can barely get away from it.

Love your neighbor!

Now we’ve all read a phrase from the Bible.