World Christian Database: field definitions

Data source: Gina A. Zurlo, ed., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025).

Table Field Description
glossary glossary item glossary item.
language Bible availability Availability of a translations of the New Testament or Bible into this language (including multiple dialects) .
language Bible date Earliest date (-and most recent date) a full printed Bible was published in (any dialect) of this language.
language Biblioglossonym Bible name: The language name as published (* indicates the biiblioglossonym of a selected scripture translation project in this language if more than one).
language Christians Christians speaking this language as their mother-tongue.
language Country count Country count.
language Language ISO Language name.
language Language code Three letter ISO 639-3 language code.
language Language ID Unique integer primary key for database use (see also unique three letter ISO 639-3 language code).
language Main country code The main or hub country of this language.
language Main country ID The main or hub country of this language.
language Mother tongue speakers Mother-tongue speakers in 2025. A blank population indicates that there is no people group with this language as their primary language. Populations are cumulative between language heirachy levels.
language Muslims Number of mother-tongue speakers who are Muslims.
language New Testament date Earliest date (-and most recent date) a New Testament was published in (any dialect) of this language.
language People count The number of people groups with this language code.
language People with gospel access The number of mother-tongue speakers of this language with access to the gospel.
language People with gospel access % The percentage of this language's mother-tongue speakers with access to the gospel.
language WLC language code World Language Classification language code.
people Agnostics Agnostic population for this people group in this country. These are persons professing no religion, or professing unbelief or non-belief, non-believers, agnostics, freethinkers, liberal thinkers, non-religious humanists, indifference to both religion and atheism, apathetic, opposed on principle neither to religion nor to atheism; sometimes termed secularists or materialists; also post-Christian, dechristianized or de-religionized populations.
people Atheists Atheist Population among this people group. Atheists are militantly anti-religious or anti-Christian agnostics, secularists, or marxists.
people Autoglossonym Peoples own name for their language.
people Baha'is Bahai population for this people group in this country. Bahais are followers of the Bahai World Faith, founded by Bahaullah, since 1844. In government censuses Bahais are usually counted as Muslims or Hindus and not shown separately.
people Bible availability Availability of a translations of the New Testament or Bible into this language (including multiple dialects) .
people Buddhists Buddhist population for this people group in this country. Followers of the Buddha, include: (a) Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) or Northern Buddhism; (b) Theravada (Teaching of the Elders) or Southern Buddhism, stigmatized by Mahayanists as Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle, i.e. available to fewer people), actually the older, purer form of Buddhism; (c) Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Guhyamantrayana, or Tantrayana (Esoteric Vehicle), known as Tantrism, Shingon or Lamaism; and (d) traditional Buddhist sects, but excluding neo-Buddhist new religions or religious movements.
people Chinese folk-religionists Chinese folk-religionists population for this people group in this country.
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Religions

Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.

Countries and regions

Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.

Denominations

Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.

Cities & provinces

Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.

Peoples & languages

Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.

Archive

A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.