44 religions on one line of time, from the Aboriginal Dreaming to Falun Gong. Stars above the line were started by a founding teacher or prophet. Stars below grew gradually out of a people's traditions. Tap any star to see how it came out, its key moments, and what grew from it.
Above: founded by a teacher or prophetBelow: grew out of a people's traditionsFollowers today: over 1 bn · 100 m+ · 1 m+ · under 1 mNo longer practisedNot reliably countedGrew out of · drew on · shares roots withKey moments of the selected religion
Religion
Came out
How
Family
Where it began
Followers today
Time is stretched toward the present so the crowded last two centuries have room. Prehistoric traditions sit in the block on the left.Scroll sideways to see the whole timeline.
The world today
Share of the world's population by religion
Sources and method
How the chart is built, and where the facts come from.
How to read the placement
Each star sits at the earliest firm evidence for the religion. Traditions older than any record sit in the undated block on the left.
Debated or gradual beginnings appear as a dotted outline on the time band when you select the religion; the gold band shows how long it has lasted, or lasted.
Above the band: started by a founding teacher or prophet. Below: grew out of a people's traditions. Borderline cases are explained in each religion's story.
Star sizes group followers into four classes, because most counts are estimates. Hollow stars are religions no longer practised.
Lines mean grew out of (solid), drew on (dashed) or shares roots with (dotted). They describe historical relationships; they don't judge any faith's own account of its origin.
The texts are AI-assisted summaries of general historical knowledge. Key dates and figures were spot-checked, and every link was checked, in October 2026. Dates are approximate and many are debated.
Sources
Each religion's card lists further reading, starting with its main Wikipedia article.
Where a follower count has a specific source, it is named on the card: