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List of Christian denominations by number of members

Adapted from Wikipedia Β· Adventurer experience

Map showing where Eastern Protestant communities are located around the world.

Christianity is the largest religious group in the world, with about 2.3 to 2.6 billion people who follow its teachings. This list shows different groups within Christianity, called denominations, sorted by how many members they have. The numbers are only estimates.

The biggest group is the Catholic Church, which includes many smaller churches called Eastern Catholic Churches. Next are Protestant groups, which include many different churches. Other large groups are the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and several smaller branches like Nontrinitarian, Restorationism, and independent Catholic denominations.

This list is always being updated, so the numbers can change. It gives a snapshot of how Christianity is spread around the world today.

Christian denominational families

The many groups within Christianity belong to several big families, shaped by culture and history.

Christianity began in the first century AD after Rome took control of much of the western part of the old Hellenistic empire created by Alexander the Great. The different languages and cultures of the Roman Empire influenced the early Christian church. The church was called "Catholic", meaning "universal", because it included many cultures.

Early Christianity faced trouble from the government until Emperor Constantine the Great made Christianity legal in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan. After this, the Church had time to think deeply about its teachings. Big questions arose about the nature of Christ and the relationship between Christ, the Father, and the Spirit. The Church held big meetings called Ecumenical councils, with the first four at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. The first two of these created the Nicene Creed, which became very important for Christian beliefs.

Later councils at Ephesus and Chalcedon caused splits in the Church. Some Christians, who did not agree with the majority, chose to form their own groups. The Church of the East split off in 431 AD, and the Oriental Orthodox Churches split off in 451 AD.

In 1054 AD, misunderstandings and theological differences led to the Great Schism, separating Greek-speaking Christians, who became the Eastern Orthodox, from Latin-speaking Christians, who kept the name Catholic, but often called themselves "Roman".

Starting in 1517, the western Latin-speaking church split during the Reformation, with many Christians rejecting the authority of the pope and forming new groups. Protestantism generally has four main streams: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anabaptism, and Anglicanism. Protestantism has fragmented into hundreds of denominations, though many still belong to broader traditions. Some groups have later reunited under the pope's authority.

Catholicism – 1.272–1.422 billion

Catholicism is the largest part of Christianity. The Catholic Church has the most members of any Christian church. About half of all Christians are Catholics. In 2022, there were about 1.390 billion Catholics who were baptized. By 2024, this number grew to 1.422 billion. In 2025, another report said there were 1.272 billion Catholics. These numbers do not include smaller groups that also call themselves Catholic, such as Old Catholicism and Independent Catholicism, which have about 18 million members together.

Latin Church – 1.404 billion

Eastern Catholic Churches – 18 million

Source

Canonically irregular groups

Sedevacantists

Main article: Sedevacantism

Protestantism – 0.800–1.1 billion

Protestantism is the second-largest group of Christians. In 2025, reports showed about 629 million historic Protestants, 409 million Independents, and 151 million unaffiliated Christians. Together, these make up broad-sense Protestantism. Numbers range from 628 million to 1.2 billion, making up between 24% and 45% of all Christians. This wide range happens because there is no agreement on which groups are part of Protestantism. Most include groups like Anabaptism, Anglicanism, Baptists, and non-denominational Christianity. However, some sources separate Independent Christians or non-denominational Pentecostals from Protestantism. Protestant groups do not form a single structure like the Catholic Church but have many different groups, such as the World Evangelical Alliance, the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Methodist Council, and the Lutheran World Federation. The most accepted figure is around 900 million, which includes many groups that might not call themselves Protestant but just "Christian." According to a scholar, "popular Protestantism" is one of the most dynamic religious movements today, along with Islam.

Historical Protestantism – 400–600 million

The number of people in historical Protestant Churches totals between 400 and 600 million.

Anglicanism – 85–110 million

There are 85–110 million Christians in the Anglican tradition. Most are part of the Anglican Communion, the third-largest Christian group, with 42 members. When counting united churches in the Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican movement, there were about 97.4 million Anglicans worldwide in 2020.

Baptist churches – 51–110 million

The worldwide Baptist community has about 100 million people. However, the Baptist World Alliance reports only 51 million baptized believers, as Baptists do not count children as members and not all Baptists are part of the Alliance. The BWA is the eighth-largest Christian group.

Lutheranism – 70–90 million

The Lutheran denominations have about 70–90 million members. The Lutheran World Federation reports 78 million and is the sixth-largest group. They are represented in the following churches:

Calvinism / Reformed churches – 85–100 million

The Reformed tradition churches, including Presbyterians, Continental Reformed, Congregationalists, and Waldensians, have about 70–80 million members. The United Churches of Reformed origin have about 36 million members. The World Communion of Reformed Churches is one of the largest Christian groups, with 100 million members, considering only full member denominations.

Methodism – 46–60 million

Methodism, including the Holiness Movement, has about 46 million members worldwide. United Churches of Methodist origin have another 14 million members. The World Methodist Council (WMC) has 39.8 million members and is the ninth-largest group. Not all of the following churches are member churches of the WMC. The largest Methodist denomination, the United Methodist Church, had about 25 percent of their churches disaffiliate between 2019 and 2023, some of whom joined the Global Methodist Church, thus figures for the two denominations are an ongoing process.

Adventism – 24 million

Restoration Movement – 4 million

Anabaptism – 4 million

Plymouth Brethren – 3.4 million

Hussites – 1.2 million

Quakers – 0.4 million

Shakers – 3

  • United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing

Modern Protestantism – 400–500 million

The denominations listed below did not emerge from the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century or its commonly acknowledged offshoots. Instead, they are broadly linked to Pentecostalism or similar other independent evangelical and revivalistic movements that originated in the beginning of the 20th century. For this reason, several sources tend to differentiate them from Protestants and classify them together as Independents, Non-core Protestants etc. Also included in this category are the numerous, yet very similar non-denominational churches. Nonetheless, most sources combine their numbers to the Protestant tally, while others do not since these churches do not self-identify with mainline Protestant traditions. Despite the absence of centralized control or leadership, if considered as a single cohort, this will easily be the second largest Christian tradition after Roman Catholicism. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC), there are an estimated 450 million Independents world-wide, as of mid-2019.

Pentecostalism – 200–280 million

Those who are members of the Pentecostal denomination number around 280 million people.

Non-denominational Christianity – 35–50 million

African initiated churches – 45–60 million

60 million people are members of African initiated churches.

Chinese Patriotic Christian Churches – 38 million

Source

New Apostolic Church – 10 million

The New Apostolic Church has around 10 million members.

Local churches – 1–10 million

Messianic Judaism – 0.3 million

Messianic Judaism has a membership of 0.3 million people.

Eastern Protestant Christianity – 22 million

Eastern Protestant Christianity (or Eastern Reformed Christianity) encompasses a range of heterogeneous Protestant Christian denominations that developed outside of the Occident, from the latter half of the nineteenth century and yet keeps elements of Eastern Christianity, to varying degrees. Most of these denominations came into being when existing Protestant Churches adopted reformational variants of Eastern Orthodox liturgy and worship; while others are the result of reformations of Eastern Orthodox beliefs and practices, inspired by the teachings of Western Protestant missionaries. Some Protestant Eastern Churches are in communion with similar Western Protestant Churches. However, Protestant Eastern Christianity within itself, does not constitute a single communion. This is due to the diverse polities, practices, liturgies and orientations of the denominations which fall under this category.

Eastern Orthodoxy – 170- 220 million

A map of Eastern Orthodoxy by population percentage

Eastern Orthodox Christians are about 220 million people around the world. The biggest group is the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is the second largest Christian group after the Catholic Church. It has many different churches that work together.

There are several main churches, such as the Russian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church, and smaller ones like the Church of Greece and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Some churches are independent, and others are linked to larger groups. There are also a few smaller groups not fully recognized by all other churches.

Oriental Orthodoxy – 70 million

The Oriental Orthodox Churches are a group of Christian churches. They disagreed with choices made at the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451. They are not the same as the Eastern Orthodox churches. Today, about 70 million people belong to Oriental Orthodox churches.

The largest groups are the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church with around 42–47 million members, the Coptic Orthodox Church with about 10 million, and the Armenian Apostolic Church with about 9 million. Other groups include the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church. There are also smaller groups like the French Coptic Orthodox Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, the British Orthodox Church, and the Albanian-Udi Church.

Nontrinitarian Restorationism – 42–62 million

Some Christian groups are called Nontrinitarian Restorationists. They believe in one God and are different from other Christian groups that believe in three persons in one God. They share a history but are distinct.

Oneness Pentecostalism – 10–30 million

Latter Day Saint movement or Mormonism – 17 million

Jehovah's Witnesses – 9 million

Minor denominations – 6 million

Independent Catholicism – 19 million

There are many church groups that call themselves Catholic but are not connected to the main Catholic Church. Some of the larger ones include the Philippine Independent Church with about 6 million members. Smaller groups include the Traditionalist Mexican-American Catholic Church with about 2 million members, and the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church with around 560,000 members.

Assyrian churches – 0.6 million

There are independent Assyrian churches with very old traditions. Over time, these churches split into different groups. By 1830, two main groups were left: the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. In 1964, another split created the Ancient Church of the East.

The main groups today include:

Binitarianism – 0.04 million

Some Christian groups that believe in two divine persons have small numbers of members.

Related articles

Catholic Church
Council of Chalcedon
Roman Empire
Hellenistic period
Alexander the Great
Early Christianity

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