Based on the numbers of adherents, theEastern Orthodox Church (also known as Eastern Orthodoxy) is the second largestChristian communion in the world, after theRoman Catholic Church, with the most common estimates of adherents being around 300 million.^[1][2][3]

Eastern Orthodox Church is the third-largest religious community in the world, afterSunni Islam and Catholic Church.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2025)

In 2025, Russia was home to most of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians, with 101.5 million of them living within Russia borders (72%); at the same time, Ukraine had 27.8 million people following the religion (65.4%), followed by Romania (16.3 million or 81.1%), Greece (9.4 million or 90%) and Belarus (7.8 million or 83.3%).^[12] It was the most popular religion in Moldova, with 93.3% of that country following Eastern Orthodoxy.

In 2024, Eastern Orthodoxy was the predominant religion inRussia (62%),^[13] where roughly half the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians live. The religion is also heavily concentrated in the rest ofEastern Europe, where in 2007 it was the majority religion inUkraine (65.4%^[14]–77%),^[15]Romania (82%),^[16]Belarus (48%^[17]–73%^[18]),Greece (95%–98%),^[16]Serbia (97%),^[16]Moldova (93%),^[16]Georgia (84%),^[16]North Macedonia (65%),^[16]Cyprus (89%)^[16] andMontenegro (72%);^[16] it is also predominant in the disputed territories ofAbkhazia,South Ossetia andTransnistria. In 2021, it was the dominant religion inBulgaria (62.7%).^[19][20]

At the start of the 21st century, significant minorities were present in severalEuropean countries:Bosnia and Herzegovina (31%),^[16]Latvia (18%),Estonia (14%),Albania (7%),^[21]Lithuania (4%),Croatia (4%),Slovenia (2%), andFinland (1.5%). In theformer Soviet republics ofCentral Asia, Eastern Orthodoxy constituted the dominant religion in northernKazakhstan, representing 23.9% of the population of the region in 2013.^[22] It was also a significant minority inKyrgyzstan (17%),Turkmenistan (5%),Uzbekistan (5%),Azerbaijan (2%),^[16] andTajikistan (1%). In theLevant, the most significant Eastern Orthodox populations are^[when?] inLebanon (8%),^[23]Syria (5–8% prior to the 2011civil war) inPalestine (0.5%–2.5%)^[24] andJordan (over 1%).^{[citation needed]}

The percentage ofChristians inTurkey, home to an historically large and influential Eastern Orthodox community, fell from 19% in 1914 to 2.5% in 1927,^[25] due to genocide,^[26] demographic upheavals caused by thepopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey,^[27] and theemigration of Christians to foreign countries (mostly inEurope andthe Americas).^[28] In 2021, there were 130,000 Orthodox Christians in Turkey (mainly adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church).^[29] In 2022, there was a large increase in the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians in Turkey to over 150,000 people; this included approximately 100,000 people escaping theRussian invasion of Ukraine.^[30]

In 2010, there were 39 million Oriental Orthodox Christians inAfrica, although 39 million of them lived in Ethiopia or Eritrea; in 2021 and 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church opened more than 200 parishes throughout the continent, and had plans to build a cathedral in Johannesburg.^[31]

Recent^[when?] immigration and missionary activity have raised^{[citation needed]} the numbers of Eastern Orthodox adherents in traditionally Catholic and Protestant countries, includingAustralia,Austria,Germany,Italy,Spain,Canada andSwitzerland, where they comprise roughly 2% of the population in each.^{[citation needed]}

There is no universal agreement on the number of members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in each country. Each study performed that seeks to discover the number of adherents in a country may use different criteria, and be submitted to different populations. As such, some numbers may be inflated, and therefore inaccurate. Examples of this are Greece and Russia, where estimates of adherence to Eastern Orthodoxy may reach 80–98%, but where surveys found lower percentages professing Eastern Orthodoxy or belief in God. The likely reason for this disparity is that many people in majority Eastern Orthodox countries will culturally identify with the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially if they were baptized as children, even if they are not currently practicing. This includes those who may be irreligious, yet culturally identify with the Eastern Orthodox Church, or for whom Eastern Orthodox Christianity is listed on official state records. Other cases of incongruent data also might be due to counting ethnic groups from Eastern Orthodox countries rather than actual adherents. For example, the Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States, which has large numbers of immigrants from Eastern Orthodox countries, have collectively reported a total of 2–3 million across the country.^{[citation needed]}

However, a 2010 study by Alexei Krindatch sought data from each parish, with the specific criteria of annual participation, discovering that there were only about 817,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians actively practicing their faith (i.e., attending church services on a regular basis) in the United States. The study explained that such a difference was due to a variety of circumstances, for example the higher numbers having counted all people who self-identify as Eastern Orthodox on a census regardless of active participation, or all people belonging to ethnic groups originating in Eastern Orthodox countries. This study, while initially controversial, proved groundbreaking, and has since been officially approved for use by theAssembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America.^{[citation needed]}

Country	Total population	% Eastern Orthodox	Eastern Orthodox total
Albania (details)	2,621,977	7.22%[B]	173,645[B][32]
Armenia (details)	3,018,854	0.25%	7,587[33]
Australia (details)	23,824,600	2.6%	563,100[34]
Austria (details)	8,773,000	6%	500,000
Azerbaijan (details)	9,624,900	2.5%	240,000
Belarus (details)	9,349,645	83.3%[35]	7,788,254
Bosnia and Herzegovina (details)	3,502,227	31%[16]	1,086,733
Brazil (details)	210,147,125	0.064%	135,000
Bulgaria (details)	6,445,481[36]	63.5%[37]	4,091,780
Canada (details)	33,476,688	1.7%	550,690[38]
China (details)	1,386,000,000	0.001%	15,000
Croatia (details)	4,284,889	4.44%[39]	195,969
Cyprus (details)	838,897	89.1%[16]	781,900
Czech Republic (details)	10,538,275	0.2%	20,533
Egypt (details)	105,000,000	0.3%	350,000[40]
Estonia (details)	1,294,486	13.66%	176,773[41][42]
France (details)	67,150,000	1%	500,000–700,000[43]
Fiji (details)	912,241	0.02%	200+[44]
Finland (details)	5,477,359	1.1%[45]	70,000
Georgia (details)	3,713,804	83.4%	3,097,312
Germany (details)	84,270,625	3.56%	3,000,000[46]
Greece (details)	10,423,054	90%[47]	9,380,749
Grenada (details)	107,317	0.1%	100[48]
Guatemala (details)	17,263,239	3%	200,000–550,000
Israel (details)	9,010,050[16]	0.67%[16]	100,000
Italy (details)	60,795,612	1.5%	900,000[49]
Japan (details)	126,226,568	0.02%	20,000[50]
Jordan (details)	9,531,712	2–4.5%	150,000–350,000
Kazakhstan (details)	17,948,816	23.9%	4,300,000[22]
Korea, South (details)	51,413,925	0.01%	6,000
Kosovo* (details)	1,433,842	1.5%[A]	25,837[C]
Kyrgyzstan (details)	5,895,100	17%[51]	1,000,000
Latvia (details)	2,027,000	17.9%	370,000[52]
Lebanon (details)	4,525,247	9%	330,000
Lithuania (details)	2,966,954	4.2%	125,189[53]
Madagascar (details)	26,262,313	0.06%	15,000[54]
Mexico (details)	121,736,809	0.01%	15,000
Moldova (details)	3,383,332	93.3%	3,158,015[55]
Montenegro (details)	629,320	81%	509,749[56]
New Zealand (details)	4,599,327	0.3%	13,883[22]
North Macedonia (details)	2,022,547	69.8%	1,610,184[57]
Norway (details)	5,328,212	0.41%	21,993[58]
Palestine (details)	4,550,368	2.5%[24]	100,000
Philippines	109,035,343[59]	0.002%	2,500[60]
Poland (details)	38,386,000	1.4%	504,400[61]
Romania (details)	20,121,641	81.1%	16,321,389[62]
Russia (details)[63]	145,500,000	61.8%[13][64]-72%[65][66]	101,450,000[66]–104,000,000[67][68]
Serbia (details)	7,237,375	84%	6,079,395[69]
Slovakia (details)	5,397,036	0.9%	49,133[70]
Slovenia (details)	2,055,496	2.2%	45,000
Spain (details)	46,464,053	3.1%	1,500,000
Sweden (details)	9,775,572	1.5%	145,279[71]
Switzerland (details)	8,211,700	1.7%	140,000[72]
Syria (details)	22,457,336	3.1%	700,000
Tajikistan (details)	8,208,000	2%	160,000
Transnistria (details)	505,153	91%[73]	460,000
Turkey (details)	84,277,439	0.02%	16,000[74]
Turkmenistan (details)	5,171,643	5.3%[75]	270,000
Ukraine (details)	40,000,000	65.4–76.6%[15]	27,802,000[14]–34,850,000[15]
United States (details)	321,163,157	0.3%	1,043,850[76]
United Kingdom (details)	67,886,011	0.7%	475,000
Uzbekistan (details)	29,559,100	5%[77]	1,000,000
TOTAL	3,331,625,296	4%[78]	~220 million[6]

The Eastern Orthodox Church is organized as a union of severalautocephalous subdivisions, which are also called "Churches" (or, sometimes, "jurisdictions"). Some are associated with a specific country, while others are not. This table presents some known data regarding individual jurisdictions. "NA" means that data is not available.

• Eastern Orthodoxy by country
• Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe
• History of Eastern Orthodoxy
• Christianity in the Middle East

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• CS1 Armenian-language sources (hy)
• CS1 Latvian-language sources (lv)
• CS1 Serbo-Croatian-language sources (sh)
• All articles with bare URLs for citations
• Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022
• Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations
• Articles with Romanian-language sources (ro)
• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 Serbian-language sources (sr)
• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with Ukrainian-language sources (uk)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles in need of updating from July 2025
• All Wikipedia articles in need of updating
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from March 2024
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2024
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2022