The proportion and composition of religious minorities vary widely by country.  Nearly 60% of the world’s population live in countries where there are government restrictions on religion and nearly half live in countries in which social hostilities involving religion are high.  Areas of the world that have been singled out as placing severe restrictions on religious freedom include East Asia (North Korea, China, Vietnam, Burma), Central Asia (Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan), and Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria).

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In the US, approximately 4% of people are affiliated with a minority religion (20% are not affiliated with any religious group).  Most of this minority group comprises adherents of Judaism (1.2%), Islam (0.6%), Buddhism (0.5%), and Hinduism (0.4%), with other religions comprising the remaining 1.2%.  Over 1,300 religiously motivated hate crimes were reported in the US in 2010.  The majority of these crimes (two-thirds) were anti-Jewish in nature.

 

US Commission on International Religious Freedom – 2012 Annual Report

Pew Form on Religion and Public Life – Rising Restrictions on Religion

American Religious Identification Survey (2008) – Summary Report

Federal Bureau of Investigation – Hate Crime Statistics (2010)