Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a Christian tradition committed to the main theological insights of Martin Luther. It is numerically the second largest single Christian tradition, with an estimated 82.6 million people belonging to the various congregations, bodies, and churches which call themselves Lutheran. Many Lutherans and most outside the tradition consider Lutheranism to be Protestant.

Number of Lutherans worldwide

Europe ? between 49.3 and 51.3 million

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Germany ? 25.8 million¹
• Sweden ? 7.2 million
• Denmark ? 4.6 million
• Finland ? 4.6 million
• Norway ? 3.9 million
• Latvia ? 560,000 ²
• Austria ? 380,000
• Slovakia ? 370,000
• Hungary ? 300,000
• Iceland ? 270,000
• Russia, Belarus, Ukraine combined ? 270,000
• France ? 260,000
• Estonia ? 200,000
• Czech Republic ? 150,000
• United Kingdom ? 120,000
• Poland ? 80,000
• Romania ? 50,000
• Serbia ? 50,000
• Lithuania ? 20,000
• Netherlands ? 20,000 (explicitly registered as Lutherans, the reformed-lutheran Protestant Church in the Netherlands has 2,000,000 members
• Slovenia ? 20,000
• Others ? 30,000

North America ? 14.2 million

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• USA ? 13.6 million ³
• Canada ? 640,000 ⁴

Africa ? 10.5 million

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Ethiopia ? 4 million
• Tanzania ? 2.5 million
• Nigeria ? 1.3 million
• Namibia ? 920,000
• South Africa ? 880,000
• Cameroon ? 280,000
• Congo (Democratic Rep. of) ? 140,000
• Zimbabwe ? 110,000
• Kenya ? 90,000
• Liberia ? 70,000
• Central African Republic ? 60,000
• Ghana ? 30,000
• Angola ? 20,000
• Botswana ? 20,000
• Rwanda ? 20,000
• Others ? 20,000

Asia & Pacific ? 7.5 million

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Indonesia ? 4.3 million
• India ? 1.7 million
• Papua New Guinea ? 960,000
• Australia ? 250,000 ⁵
• Malaysia ? 90,000
• Hong Kong ? 40,000
• Japan ? 30,000
• Philippines ? 30,000
• Bangladesh ? 10,000
• Others ? 30,000

Latin America ? 1.1 million

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Brazil ? 940,000 ⁶
• Argentina ? 50,000
• Bolivia ? 20,000
• Chile ? 20,000
• El Salvador ? 10,000
• Guyana ? 10,000
• Others ? 20,000

Total World ? 82.6 million

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, these figures are from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) homepage.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• The EKD (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland - German Evangelical Church) released a figure in November 2004 that said that 25.8 million Germans (31.3% of the national population) are Lutherans.
• In 2003, the Latvian Lutheran church estimated the number of Lutherans in the country to be 556,000http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35465.htm
• The American Religious Identification Survery (ARIS) found that 4.6% of Americans are self-described Lutherans. That means there are 13.6 million American Lutherans.http://adherents.com/rel_USA.html#families
• Canadian census statistics show that there are 640,000 self-described Lutherans living in Canadahttp://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/demo32a.htm
• Australian Census statistics show that there are 250,000 Lutherans living in Australiahttp://www.adherents.com/loc/loc_australia.html
• This figure includes both Brazilian LWF and non-LWF churches.