Statistics

A map drawn by Shoghi Effendi, illustrating the progress of the Ten Year Crusade.

The Second World Congress in 1992 was one of the largest gatherings of Bahá’ís ever, with over 27,000 people attending.

Participants at one of the 114 youth conferences, held in Boston in 2013. The conferences were open not only to Bahá’ís, but to people of all backgrounds.

The collection, keeping and analysis of statistics in the Bahá’í world is a discipline which has evolved significantly over the religion's relatively short lifetime, and continues to develop as Bahá’í administrative institutions around the world mature. Statistics of interest about the Bahá’í community often include: population/membership; number of active institutions, training institutes, and social and economic development projects; number of properties such as Bahá'í centres and Houses of Worship; number of works published in various languages; and demographic data such as ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups, indigenous peoples, women, etc. involved in various aspects of Bahá’í life.

The Bahá’í Faith is entirely contained in a single, organized, hierarchical community, but the Bahá’í population is spread out into almost every country and ethnicity in the world, being recognized as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity. In some countries, such as the United States, institutions regularly collect and release detailed membership statistics. This proves to be difficult or impossible in other countries: for example, ones where administrative institutions lack the capacity, or where Bahá’ís endure external restrictions or outright persecution, such as in Iran. As such, collecting accurate, up-to-date statistics about the Bahá’í world is not always possible.

Historically, statistics about the worldwide Bahá’í community were published by Shoghi Effendi and the Hands of the Cause, who commissioned a variety of works relating to goals met during various phases of the Divine Plan. Today, official statistics about the worldwide Bahá’í community come from the Bahá’í World Centre, which claims "more than 5 million Bahá’ís... in over 100,000 localities" on official websites; notably, Robert Stockman cites a 2020 communication from the Bahá’í World Centre which gives an updated estimate of 8 million Bahá’ís worldwide. Official agencies often publish data on numbers of local and national spiritual assemblies, Counselors and their auxiliaries, countries of representation, languages, and publishing trusts. Less often, they publish membership statistics.

Difficulties in enumeration

Enumeration of smaller religious communities is generally challenging and prone to inaccuracies. Difficulties generally arise both in internal records-keeping and in external surveys and censuses. The definition of religious membership is a major issue, as one must consider what "makes" someone an adherent (e.g. active participation in religious life, attendance at holiday or administrative gatherings...), and this varies from one group to another. As well, methodological issues often lead to problems estimating adherence in religious groups, especially small ones.

Records-keeping

A delegate casts his ballot at a unit convention. Accurate membership records are essential to determine eligibility to vote in Bahá’í elections.

It is difficult to enumerate Bahá’í populations accurately, mainly due to the fact that the religion is spread across many countries, being recognized as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity.. Many national Bahá'í communities lack the administrative capacity to enumerate their membership efficiently; in some, external restrictions or outright persecution make enumeration impossible.

Rapid growth and a spotty retention rate also make membership statistics difficult to maintain, because a certain number of Bahá’ís move on to other religions without asking to removed from the Bahá’í membership rolls. From the mid 1960's until 2000, the US Baha'i population went from 10,000 to 140,000 on official rolls, but the percent of members with known addresses dropped to fifty percent.

As with any reporting of statistics, it is difficult to keep an accurate running record. The US National Teaching Committee states that anyone requesting to leave the religion is taken off membership lists, and that effort is made to remove the names of deceased members from the rolls. Because Bahá’ís must maintain accurate voting lists in order to elect their Local Spiritual Assemblies, considerable effort is made to maintain accurate membership data on Bahá’ís aged 21 and older. Compounding the problem of bookkeeping is a retention rate of approximately 50% within two years of enrollment, a statistic shared by most churches in the US (Wade Clark Roof).

Other than signing a declaration card and being acknowledged by a Spiritual Assembly, there is no initiation or requirement of attendance to remain on the official roll sheets. Members receive regular mailings unless they request not to be contacted, which is rare.

Definition of membership

Estimates of Bahá'í membership in selected countries (2000–2010).

Bahá’í institutions generally consider "members" those who have declared their belief in some manner. In the United States, the definition has remained essentially the same since the 1930s; a person must sign a declaration card stating their belief in Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and their understanding that there are laws and institutions to obey (the card does not specify them). Many countries follow the pattern of the US. Canada historically required signature of a card, which largely served to identify conscientious objectors (those who objected to certain types of military service); this was made optional early in the 21st Century.

The definition of membership used by third parties may differ greatly from that used by Bahá’í institutions. For instance, Margit Warburg, a Danish researcher, has noted that some figures given in the World Christian Encyclopedia (WCE) are exaggerated, likely due to a broader definition of membership (e.g. including individuals who participate in Baháʼí activities without having formally enrolled as Baháʼís). While the WCE reports an estimated 1,600 Baháʼís in Denmark in 1995 and 682,000 Baháʼís in the USA, the number of registered Baháʼís in 1995 in both countries was about 240 and 130,000, respectively.

To illustrate this, the following table provides a range of estimates of the Bahá’í population of a selection of countries, obtained both from Bahá’í sources and others.

Country	Bahá’í estimate	External estimates						SD	Country pop.
		RI	ARDA			ADH	Other
			WRP10	WRP05	WCD05
Australia	20,000		15,000	16,500	18,707	33,536	13,989	7,248	25,921,089
Botswana		12,491	3,450	2,500	16,227	12,417	2,074	6,216	2,588,423
Cameroon	40,000	135,765	38,200	36,500	50,799	64,286		38,120	27,198,628
Canada	30,000	62,293	18,945	18,687	46,587	31,396	18,945	16,592	38,155,012
Colombia	30,000	63,482	47,225	43,751	70,512	64,758		15,506	51,516,562
Congo (DRC)	70,000	222,114	200,000	180,000	290,899	224,596		72,981	95,894,118
Germany	6,000		10,000	10,000	11,743	12,391		2,488	83,408,554
Guyana	800	3,445	4,850	2,800	13,045	14,584	500	5,747	804,567
India	2,200,000	2,331,422	1,684,469	1,567,234	1,880,707	1,716,148	4,572	767,680	1,407,563,842
Kenya	25,000	330,884	250,000	225,000	429,010	308,292		135,985	53,005,614
Pakistan	30,000	93,890	73,198	66,903	92,869	78,658		23,445	231,402,117
Philippines	64,000		157,000		272,685	229,522		91,333	113,880,328
Rwanda	4,000	15,466	19,034	16,186	18,952	14,211		5,556	13,461,888
Tanzania	35,000	134,068	125,000	120,000	191,263	140,593		50,672	63,588,334
Uganda	105,000	87,114	50,000	55,000	96,155	66,546	29,601	27,298	45,853,778
United Kingdom	7,000	29,415	5,021	23,895	37,589	36,745	5,021	14,766	67,281,039
United States	156,892	723,729	482,784	456,767	525,046	753,423	178,727	256,080	336,997,624
Vietnam	8,000	319,327	325,000	330,000	394,029	356,133	8,000	140,282	97,468,029
Zambia	6,000	36,675	145,000	135,000	224,215	162,443	3,891	86,252	19,473,125

Methodology

For various reasons, third-party sources often contain numerical inaccuracies in their statistics on the Baháʼí Faith. Its relatively small size means that many censuses and religious surveys group it with other religions rather than publishing separate statistics. Even when separate statistics are available, methodological issues can result in over- or undercounts. Moreover, some government censuses do not record Baháʼí membership at all, instead counting Baháʼís as Muslims or Hindus.

Worldwide estimates

Over 1,000 delegates from 157 countries attended the 11th International Bahá’í Convention in Haifa, 2013.

The Bahá’í International Community reports the following statistics about the worldwide Bahá’í community:

• Between 5 and 8 million Bahá’ís residing in over 100,000 localities;
• Around 2,100 indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups represented;
• 188 National Spiritual Assemblies and 300 training institutes established;
• 900 large-scale sustained social and economic development projects including over 600 schools and over 70 development agencies;
• 10 Houses of Worship raised;
• Bahá’í writings and literature translated into 800 languages.

The following table was provided by the Bahá’í World Centre Department of Statistics as an overview of the growth of the Bahá’í community from 1968 to 2001.

		1968	± 1986	2001
National Spiritual Assemblies		81	165	182
Local Spiritual Assemblies		6,840	18,232	11,740
Countries where the Bahá’í Faith is established:	Independent countries		187	190
	Dependent territories / overseas departments		45	46
Localities where Bahá’ís reside		31,572	>116,000	127,381
Indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups		1,179	>2,100	2,112
Languages into which Bahá’í literature is translated		417	800	802
Bahá’í Publishing Trusts		9	26	33
Source: Bahá'í World Centre (2001).

Other Bahá’í sources

Expansion of the Bahá’í Faith from 1844 to 1954. From Vol. 12 of Bahá’í World.

Growth of the Bahá’í Faith from 1953 to 1973. From Vol. 16 of Bahá’í World.

• The current US national website states that there are: "more than 5 million" Bahá’ís in the world. Also see this fact sheet.
• The introduction to a 1995 printing of The Promise of World Peace (Special Ideas, Heltonville, IN) claims: "more than five million members... in over 120,000 localities... in over 230 countries or significant territories."
• A pamphlet currently published by the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia estimates: "At present there are over 6 million Bahá’ís who live in more than 118,000 localities in over 200 countries and territories."
• A 1997 statement by the NSA of South Africa wrote: "...the Bahá’í Faith enjoys a world-wide following in excess of six million people."
• The Bahá'í World, 1994-1995 gave a Bahá'í population figure of around 5 million. The same publication cited a Bahá'í population of 408,000 in 1963.
• The Bahá’ís, a magazine first published in 1992 by the Bahá’í International Community, reported that there were "more than five million" Bahá’ís worldwide. Later editions also included the following historical statistics:

	1954	1963	1968	1973	1979	1988	1994
National Spiritual Assemblies	12	56	81	113	125	149	172
Local Spiritual Assemblies	708	3,379	5,902	17,037	23,634	19,486	17,780
Localities where Bahá'ís reside	3,117	11,092	31,883	69,541	102,704	112,137	119,276

Other sources

As of 2020, major third-party sources for Bahá’í population statistics include: the World Christian Encyclopedia (WCE)/World Christian Database (WCD), edited by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity; the World Religion Database (WRD), edited by Johnson and Grim; and the World Religion Project (WRP), edited by Maoz and Henderson. The WCE/WCD and WRD are both published by Brill, while the WRP is published by the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA).

WCE/WCD

• Using the World Christian Database, the ARDA estimated a total of 7.3 million Baha'is in the world in 2010.
• Encyclopædia Britannica in mid-2004 estimated a total of 7.5 million Bahá’ís residing in 218 countries.[2] Its statistics are derived from the World Christian Encyclopedia.
• The World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001,p 4 estimated 7.1 million Bahá’ís in the world in 2000, representing 218 countries. The same source estimated 5.7 million in 1990.[3]
• adherents.com estimates 7 million Bahá’ís in 2000 based on research from David Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000, and the Population Reference Bureau www.prb.org.

WRD

• Johnson and Crossing (2019) used the World Religion Database to estimate a total of 8.3 million Bahá’ís in 2018. The same source gave estimates of 6 million Bahá’ís in 2000 and 2.6 million in 1970, as well as a projected population of 10.5 million Bahá’ís in 2030.
• In Theological Issues in Christian-Muslim Dialogue (2018), Johnson estimated a total of 7.9 million Bahá’ís worldwide in 2015.
• Using the same database, Johnson and Grim (2013) estimated a total of 7.3 million Bahá’ís in 2010, noting that the Bahá’í Faith was "the only religion to have grown faster in every United Nations region over the past 100 years [1910-2010] than the general population".

WRP

The World Religion Project estimated a total of 4.8 million Bahá’ís worldwide in 2010. The following historical estimates can be gleaned from the project's data:

1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010
638,739	1,278,349	2,294,978	3,205,049	5,064,983	4,080,074	4,840,062

Others

The following is a list of other sources not mentioned above.

2000s

Estimated growth of the Bahá’í Faith, based on Handbuch Bahai (Hutter, 2004).

• In 2005, the Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition, vol 2, pg. 739, (ISBN 0-02-865733-0) records that

“ in the early twenty-first century the Bahá’ís number close to six million in more than two hundred countries. The number of adherents rose significantly in the late twentieth century from a little more than one million at the end of the 1960's. ”

• Hutter (2004), in Handbuch Bahai: Geschichte - Theologie - Gesellschaftsbezug, estimates around 7.5 million Bahá’ís in the world as of 2004. The same source gives estimates of 4.5 million Bahá’ís in 1988 and just over 1 million in 1968.
• In 2003, The World Book Encyclopedia reported that "there are about 5,500,000 Bahá’ís worldwide." [4](registration required)
• The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa vol. 1 (2004), reported that "By 1900, the community... had reached 50,000-100,000... Bahá’ís worldwide [are] estimated in 2001 at 5 million."
• In 2000, Denis MacEoin wrote in the Handbook of Living Religions that

“ the [Bahá’í] movement has had remarkable success in establishing itself as a vigorous contender in the mission fields of Africa, India, parts of South America, and the Pacific, thus outstripping other new religions in a world-wide membership of perhaps 4 million and an international spread recently described as second only to that of Christianity. The place of Baha'ism among world religions now seems assured. ”

1990s

• The Academic American Encyclopedia (1998) said that the Bahá’ís "are estimated to number about 2 million."
• The Encyclopedia Britannica Year-Book for 1997 offered an estimate of 6.4 million Bahá’ís in 210 countries worldwide.
• The Dictionary of World Religions (1997), Religions of the World (1997), and the Columbia Encyclopedia (1993) all estimated about five million Bahá’ís in the world.

Earlier

• In The Baha'i Faith: A Guide For The Perplexed (2012), Robert Stockman cited estimates of 4.3 million Baha'is in 1986, 3.2 million in 1979, and 1 million in 1968.
• The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion (1995) stated: "In 1985, it was estimated that there were between 1.5 to 2 million Baha'is, with the greatest areas of recent growth in Africa, India, and Vietnam."

Continental estimates

The following table displays continental data current as of August 2001, provided by the Bahá’í World Center Department of Statistics.

		Africa	Americas	Asia	Australasia	Europe
National Spiritual Assemblies		46	43	39	17	37
Local Spiritual Assemblies		3,808	3,152	2,948	856	976
Countries where the Bahá’í Faith is established:	Independent countries	53	35	44	14	44
	Dependent territories / overseas departments	5	17	3	13	8
Localities where Bahá’ís reside		30,003	24,502	59,821	6,746	6,309
Indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups		1,250	340	250	250	22
Continental Counsellors		19	19	19	11	13
Auxiliary Board Members		234	234	288	108	126
Languages into which Bahá’í literature is translated		266	172	174	110	80
Bahá’í Publishing Trusts		7	3	9	2	12
Source: Bahá'í World Centre (2001).

In addition, The Bahá'í World, 1994-1995 gave the following continental statistics for social and economic development projects:

		Africa	Americas	Asia	Australasia	Europe
Social and economic development projects		286	379	532	117	30

Africa

African Bahá’í Community statistics are also hard to come by. However, Africans have a long history with the Bahá’í Faith; several of the earliest followers of both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh were reportedly African. From 1924 to 1960 the religion was declared one of the legally sanctioned faiths in Egypt, but has since then been subject to restrictions and outright persecution by authorities and others.

Americas

North America

The 1934–1936 Bahá'í Historical Record Survey done in the United States and Canada was an early demographic review of the Bahá'ís of these countries.

South America

The Bahá’í Faith was introduced into South America in 1919 when Martha Root made an extended trip to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. She introduced the Bahá’í Faith to Esperantists and Theosophical groups and visited local newspapers to ask them to publish articles about the Bahá’í Faith. The first Bahá’í permanently resident in South America was Leonora Holstaple Armstrong, who arrived in Brazil in 1921. The first Seven Year Plan (1937-44) gave the American Bahá’ís the goal of establishing the Bahá’í Faith in every country in Latin America (that is, settling at least one Bahá’í or converting at least one native). In 1951, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America was first elected. By 1963, most countries in South America had their own National Spiritual Assembly.

Asia

The Bahá’í Faith originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of Bahá’u’lláh. Since the middle of the 20th Century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because the Bahá’í Faith's activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities. Exceptions have been Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Malaysia, and Indonesia, where the Bahá’í Faith is legal and largely unrestricted.

National estimates

Main article: Number of Bahá’ís by country

Bolivia

Radio Bahá’í in Bolivia.

The South American country with possibly the most interesting Bahá’í history is Bolivia, where the Faith was introduced to rural Quechua and Aymara Indians starting in 1956. Large numbers of rural people became Bahá’ís. The Bolivian Bahá’ís launched a radio station around 1980 that broadcasts educational programs and Bahá’í information in native languages, as well as traditional music. The World Christian Encyclopedia, drawing on the Bolivian government census, reports 269,246 Bahá’ís in 2000. Official Bahá’í membership figures are much lower, reflecting the impact the radio station has had on the religious identity of many rural people who have never encountered local Bahá’í communities..

Canada

Some of the 4,000 attendees at the Toronto regional conference in 2009.

The Canadian Bahá’í Community, according to its official website[5] consists of some 30,000 members across approximately 1200 communities throughout the 13 Canadian Provinces and Territories. According to the same source, the Canadian community is quite diverse: "There are French-speaking and English-speaking Bahá’ís, and more than 18% of Canadian Bahá’ís come from First Nations and Inuit backgrounds; another 30% are recent immigrants or refugees."

The Canadian community is one of the earliest western communities, at one point sharing a joint National Spiritual Assembly with the United States, and is a co-recipient of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan. The first North American woman to declare herself a Bahá’í was Mrs. Kate C. Ives, of Canadian ancestry, though not living in Canada at the time. Moojan Momen, in reviewing "The Origins of the Bahá’í Community of Canada, 1898-1948" notes that "the Magee family... are credited with bringing the Bahá’í Faith to Canada. Edith Magee became a Bahá’í in 1898 in Chicago and returned to her home in London, Ontario, where four other female members of her family became Bahá’ís. This predominance of women converts became a feature of the Canadian Bahá’í community..."[6]

Statistics Canada reports 14,730 Bahá’ís from 1991 census data and 18,020 in those of 2001.[7]

India

Some of the 2,800 attendees at the New Delhi regional conference in 2008.

Main article: India

The largest Bahá’í community in the world is said to be in India, with an official Bahá’í population of 2.2 million[8], and roots that go back to the first days of the religion in 1844.

In the 1991 census only 5,575 people claimed to be Bahá’í. The issues of caste, multiple religious identities, and rapid growth of the religion all make accurate estimates difficult, and not easiliy compared to Western standards of a religious population. Furthermore, Indian census workers in rural areas often do not canvas households, but assign people a religion based on their personal and family names. Since Bahá’ís do not change their names, they are often counted as Hindus or Muslims.

A researcher, William Garlington, characterized the 1960's until present as a time of "Mass Teaching" [9]. He suggests that the mentality of the believers in India changed during the later years of Shoghi Effendi's ministry, when they were instructed to accept converts who were illiterate and uneducated. The change brought teaching efforts into the rural areas of India, where the teachings of the unity of humanity attracted many of the lower caste. See also this article.

Iran

Attendees of the first National Bahá’í Convention in Iran, 1934.

Iran has what is perhaps the second- or third-largest Bahá’í population. Estimates for the early twenty-first century vary between 150,000 and 500,000. During the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent few years, a significant number of Bahá’ís fled the country during intensive persecution. Estimates before and after the revolution vary greatly.

• Eliz Sanasarian writes in Religious Minorities in Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 53) that "Estimating the number of Bahá’ís in Iran has always been difficult due to their persecution and strict adherence to secrecy. The reported number of Bahá’ís in Iran has ranged anywhere from the outrageously high figure of 500,000 to the low number of 150,000. The number 300,000 has been mentioned most frequently, especially for the mid- to late- 1970's, but it is not reliable. Roger Cooper gives an estimate of between 150,000 and 300,000."
• The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa (2004) states that "In Iran, by 1978, the Bahá’í community numbered around 300,000."
• The Columbia Encyclopedia (5th edition, 1993) reports that "Prior to the Iranian Revolution there were about 1 million Iranian Bahá’ís."
• The Encyclopedia of Islam (new edition, 1960) reports that "In Persia, where different estimates of their number vary from more than a million down to about 500,000. [in 1958]"

At times the authorities in Iran have claimed that there are no Bahá’ís in their country, and that the persecutions were made up by the CIA. The first claim apparently represents a legal rather than anthropological determination, as Bahá’ís are regarded as Muslims under Iranian law. For the latter, see Persecution.

Malaysia

A large concentration of Bahá’ís is also found in Malaysia, made up of Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Aslis and other indigenous groups. The Bahá’í community of Malaysia claims that "about 1%" of the population are Bahá’ís.[10] Given the 2006 population of Malaysia, such a claim represents about 268,000 Bahá’ís.

United States

Main article: Statistics in the United States

The second-largest non-Christian religion in each U.S. state in 2010 and 2020; in the latter, the Bahá’í Faith is indicated for South Carolina and South Dakota.

Counties of the United States with the highest proportion of Bahá’ís (2010).

In the United States, hosting one of the most prominent Bahá’í communities, the official estimate in Sep 2006 was 156,892 members on record, excluding Alaska and Hawai'i.

In 1894 Thornton Chase became the first American Bahá’í. By the end of 1894 four other Americans had also become Bahá’ís. In 1909, the first National Convention was held with 39 delegates from 36 cities. In 1944 every state in the nation had at least one local Bahá’í administrative body.[11] The list of Bahá’ís from the 1890s to the present is a composite from various sources. The figures before 1934 are the best estimates possible, based on the US Religious Census (information collected by the Bahá’ís based on various definitions of membership). The figures from 1940 to the 1960s or 1970s come from Bahá’í News, where the figures were occasionally published. From the 1970s and on, the staff at the National Teaching Committee compiled the data from national membership records.

In an informal letter in 1998, Dr. Robert Stockman, the coordinator of the Research Office of the US Bahá’í National Center wrote:

“ The National Center, obviously, is not in the position to decide which cards were signed in good faith and which were not. The National Spiritual Assembly instituted a two-tier process about 1974, of (1) declaration, and (2) enrollment, the latter involving a meeting with the declarant to ascertain that the person understands what s/he is doing. The two-stage process was inaugurated because of abuses in mass-teaching campaigns during 1968-72. ”

In December, 1999, the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States stated that out of the 140,000 adult (15 and over) members on the rolls, only 70,000 had known addresses [12]. It is reasonable to assume that affiliation on the part of some individuals disengaged from participation in the Bahá’í community over extended periods is open to question. The American Religious Identity Survey (ARIS) conducted in 2001, with a sample size of 50,000 for its total review of all religious experience in the study, estimated that there were 84,000 self identifying adult (21 and over) Baha'is in the United States.[13]

The 2010 U.S. Religion Census conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies was one of the first major surveys that indicated significant demographic penetration of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States. Based on the Census, it was found that the Bahá’í Faith constituted the largest "non-Christian" religious minority in the state of South Carolina. The Census recorded 1,130 Bahá’í "congregations" and 171,449 adherents spread across 2,532 counties in all 50 U.S. states, with significant penetration (i.e. 1% of the population or greater) in parts of South and North Carolina, Georgia, and South Dakota. The 2020 U.S. Religion Census identified the Bahá’í Faith as the largest non-Christian religion in a total of 1,708 U.S. counties, recording 983 "congregations" and 178,727 adherents in a geographical spread similar to that seen in 2010.

Alaska

Alaska is unusual in that it is not an independent nation, recognized by the United Nations, and yet has a National Spiritual Assembly. Its specific statistics are not published, and are often not broken out in non-Bahá’í statistics of the USA in general. One source puts the 1992 combined membership in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico combined at approximately 6000.

Hawai'i

The Hawaiian Bahá’í community began when Agnes Alexander became a Bahá’í in Paris in 1900 and returned to the islands in 1901. Similar to Alaska, the Bahá’ís of Hawai'i have an independent National Spiritual Assembly from that of the USA, though it is itself one of the 50 United States. Independent statistics have not published.

Vietnam

On March 21, 2007, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, about 280 people attended a reception where the government Committee for Religious Affairs presented a certificate giving recognition to Baha'i activities.[14] Vietnamese government authorities at the time stated that Vietnam had 7,000 Bahá’ís, a number that may reflect thirty years of government restrictions. The estimate of 300,000 Bahá’ís in Vietnam [15] is based on World Christian Encyclopedia, by David Barrett, 2000.[16]

See also

• Number of Bahá’ís by country
• Statistics on National Spiritual Assemblies
• Bahá’í Historical Record Survey — an early demographic survey of Bahá’ís in the U.S. and Canada

External links

• Bahá’í World Statistics
• A comprehensive website about religious adherents of numerous faiths
• Specific compiled stats on percentages and sizes of Bahá’í communities
• Issues Pertaining to Growth, Retention and Consolidation in the United States

References

Bibliography

• Jones, Lindsay, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion: Second Edition. MacMillan Reference Books. ISBN 0028657330.

• Hinnells, John R. (2000). The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions: Second Edition. Penguin. ISBN 0140514805.

• Wade Clark Roof (1993). A Generation of Seekers: Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Gen. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060669640.

• World Book editors, ed. (2002). The World Book Encyclopedia: 2003 ed edition. World Book Inc. ISBN 0716601036. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)

• Paul Oliver (2002). Teach Yourself World Faiths, New Edition. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0071384480.

• Mattar, Philip, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Middle East & North Africa. Thomson/Gale. ISBN 0028657691.

• John Westerdale Bowker, ed. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192139657.

• Martin Palmer; Joanne O'Brien (2005). Religions Of The World. Facts on File. ISBN 0816062587.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Columbia University; Barbara Ann Chernow; George A. Vallasi (1993). The Columbia Encyclopedia. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 039562438x.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Academic American Encyclopedia. Grolier Academic Reference. 1998. ISBN 0717220680.

• Jonathan Z. Smith; American Academy of Religion (1995). The Harpercollins Dictionary of Religion. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060675152.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition. Brill. 1960. Ref DS37.E523.

• Tripp, Clancy-Smith, Gershoni, Owen, Sayigh, Tucker, ed. (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521770734.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)