East Asia Is Driving Buddhism’s Decline

Global Buddhist numbers fell about 5% from 2010 to 2020 largely because most Buddhists live in Asia‑Pacific, where aging populations, very low fertility (about 1.6 children per woman for Buddhists), and high rates of leaving childhood religions — especially in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong — erased more adherents than conversions added. Pew’s analysis draws on 2,700+ censuses and surveys and finds 98% of Buddhists live in the region and that the five East Asian places lost roughly 32 million Buddhists between 2010 and 2020. — If a major world religion declines because of demography and religious switching in specific countries, that reshapes regional cultural identity, political coalitions, soft‑power projection and social policy debates about family, aging and secularization.