User:茶烟/巴哈伊数据

估计全球巴哈伊信徒的数量是困难的。该宗教在一个独立、有组织的社群中运行，但巴哈伊信徒却在几乎所有的国家和族群中有分布，被认为是除基督宗教以外地理分布最广的宗教。

巴哈伊世界中心对巴哈伊人口数量有过的官方统计，声称1991年就有“超过500万巴哈伊信徒”，分布于10万多个定居点。巴哈伊的官方机构经常公布地区和国家灵体会，洲际顾问和助手，代表国家，语言和出版社的数量 [1] 。有时候他们公布信徒数量。近些年，美国巴哈伊社团公布了具体的巴哈伊信徒统计数字。

成员资格的定义

20实际30年代，美国和加拿大的巴哈伊开始要求新入教的成员签署信仰的声明，表明他们对巴哈欧拉，巴孛和阿博都巴哈的信仰，明白需要服从律法和信仰的惯例机构（卡片上未注明）。签署声明的目的在于，信徒可以合法申请免除服兵役的义务。 后来在加拿大信徒可自由选择是否签署卡片，但在美国，为了行政管理和档案的要求，仍然使用这种手段。许多国家使用了美国和加拿大的模式。

除了签署由灵体会认可的卡片外，没有其他入会仪式的要求。成员会定期收到邮件，除非他们自己表示不希望联系。

统计数据的困难

由于该宗教信众较为分散而非集中的，是外人对该宗教进行人口学研究的主要困难。调查和人口普查（除了政府普查，即在许多国家由政府要求个人报告自己的宗教信仰）目前难以在这个尺度上进行，这个尺度尤其难以准确地估计宗教少数群体。在某些国家，巴哈伊信仰是非法的，巴哈伊新都遭受了不同程度的迫害，使得即使巴哈伊也难以了解信徒人数。

世界基督教数据库，以及其前身世界基督教百科全书，回顾了世界范围内宗教信众的人口，并多次发布了他们的报告。巴哈伊信仰从1970年-1985年， 1990年-2000年 以及最近的一次2000年-2005年 报告上，在增长率上持续位于前列。

20世纪大幅度的增长说明，绝大多数巴哈伊并非由于他们的祖辈是巴哈伊，或周围的社会环境而自动皈依，结合巴哈伊独立探求真理的原则，使得难以将巴哈伊数据与其他某些一出生就自动成为信徒的宗教相比。有人认为，这导致主要宗教的人口数被高估了；其他有些人指出，从社会现实上讲，巴哈伊身份相对于某些其他身份，例如天主教而言，更具有暂时性。

迅速的增长速度以及参差不齐的保留度使得成员数目的数据难以稳定较长的时间，因为有一定数量的巴哈伊信徒转而成为其他宗教的信徒，却并没有要求把自己的名字从成员名录中删除。从20世纪60年代到2000年，美国巴哈伊人口在官方的名录中从10000人增长到140000人，但有地址的人口比例则降到了50%。

从另一方面说，大多数教派并不试图维护国家级成员名录的数据库，而必须依赖于地方教会的数据，或通过一半人口的调查获取数据。而地方教会的成员名录往往也维护不佳，因为它们一般对此没有需要（巴哈伊至少需要维持一个准确的选举名录），并且地方教会有时候即使被要求提供数据也不依从。统计美国犹太人的人数，约有一般人与非犹太人结婚，并且他们大多数不去犹太会堂，因此统计极为困难。估算美国穆斯林和东正教教徒人数也因此差异巨大。

世界范围内的数据

以下数据表由巴哈伊世界中心数据部提供，以统计增长率及基本的数据。

	1968	± 1986	2001
国家灵体会	81	165	182
地方灵体会	6,840	18,232	11,740
已有巴哈伊信仰建立的国家： 独立国家		187	190
已有巴哈伊信仰建立的国家： 属地/海外部门		45	46
巴哈伊信徒居住的居住点	31,572	>116,000	127,381
土著部落、种族及少数民族	1,179	>2,100	2,112
有巴哈伊文献译本的语言数	417	800	802
巴哈伊出版社	9	26	33

巴哈伊来源

• 官方 international 网站声称有“超过500万巴哈伊信徒居住于遍布全世界的10万余居住点”。
• 目前US national网站称：世界上有“超过500万”巴哈伊。
• 1995年印版世界和平的承诺序言 (Special Ideas, Heltonville, IN)称：“超过500万成员……位于230个国家或地区……的超过12万居住点”
• A pamphlet currently published by the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia estimates: "At present there are over 6 million Bahá'ís who live in more than 118,000 localities in over 200 countries and territories."
• A 1997 statement by the NSA of South Africa wrote: "…the Bahá'í Faith enjoys a world-wide following in excess of six million people."
• The Department of Statistics, Bahá'í World Centre, does not provide an estimated total, but claims that in 2001 there were 11,740 local Spiritual Assemblies, and 127,381 localities in 236 countries and territories. [2]
• A 1987 report, Achievements of the Seven Year Plan published in Bahá'í News (July, 1987,) pages 2–7, reports 4.74 million Bahá'ís in 1986 growing at a rate of 31% over 1979, or 4.4% per year on average.

Other sources

• The World Factbook states that Bahá'ís make up 0.12% of the world based on a 2007 estimate, corresponding to 7.9 million people.
• The 2005 Association of Religion Data Archives estimate is of 7.6 million.
• Encyclopædia Britannica in mid-2004 estimated a total of 7.5 million Bahá’ís residing in 218 countries.Worldwide Adherents of All Religions, Mid-2004 Its statistics are derived from the World Christian Encyclopedia.
• The World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001,p 4 estimated 7.1 million Bahá'ís in the world in 2000, representing 218 countries. The same source estimated 5.7 million in 1990.[3] Its definition of membership is broader than the official Bahá'í definition and would include people who attend Bahá'í gatherings regularly even if they have not declared their faith or persons who state they are Bahá'ís in government censuses as a result of reading about the religion or hearing about it on the radio.
• In 2005, the Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition, vol 2, pg. 739, (ISBN 0-02-865733-0) records that:

"In the early twenty-first century the Bahá’ís number close to six million in more than two hundred countries. The number of adherents rose significantly in the late twentieth century from a little more than one million at the end of the 1960s."

• adherents.com estimates 7 million Bahá’ís in 2000 based on research from David Barrett, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2000, and the Population Reference Bureau www.prb.org.
• In 2003, The World Book Encyclopedia reports that "there are about 5,500,000 Bahá’ís worldwide." [4](registration required)
• In 2001, Paul Oliver wrote in World Faiths that there were "approximately five million Bahá’ís" in 1963.
• In 2004, the Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa vol 1, reports that "By 1900, the community… had reached 50,000-100,000… Bahá’ís worldwide [are] estimated in 2001 at 5 million."
• In 2000, Denis MacEoin wrote in the Handbook of Living Religions that:

"the movement has had remarkable success in establishing itself as a vigorous contender in the mission fields of Africa, India, parts of South America, and the Pacific, thus outstripping other new religions in a world-wide membership of perhaps 4 million and an international spread recently described as second only to that of Christianity. The place of Baha'ism among world religions now seems assured."

• In 1997, Dictionary of World Religions estimated "five million Bahá’ís" in the world.
• In 1997, Religions of the World published: "today there are about 5 million" Bahá’ís.
• In 1993, the Columbia Encyclopedia published: "There are about 5 million Bahá’ís in the world."
• In 1998, the Academic American Encyclopedia said that the Bahá’ís "are estimated to number about 2 million."
• In 1995 the HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion states: "In 1985, it was estimated that there were between 1.5 to 2 million Baha'is, with the greatest areas of recent growth in Africa, India, and Vietnam."

另见

• 世界主要宗教

Notes

• Alexander, Agnes Baldwin; editing and end notes by Barbara Sims. History of the Bahá'í Faith in Japan 1914-1938. Osaka, Japan: Japan Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1977. 
• R. Sims, Barbara. Traces That Remain: A Pictorial History of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Faith Among the Japanese. Osaka, Japan: Japan Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1989. 
• de Vries, Jelle. The Babi Question You Mentioned--: The Origins of the Baha'i Community of the Netherlands, 1844-1962. Peeters Publishers. 2002. ISBN 9789042911093. 

References

• Jones, Lindsay (编). Encyclopedia of Religion second. MacMillan Reference Books. 2005. ISBN 0028657330. 
• Hinnells, John R. The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions second. Penguin. 2000. ISBN 0140514805. 
• Roof, Wade C. A Generation of Seekers: Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation. HarperCollins. 1993. ISBN 0060669640. 
• World Book editors (编). The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book Inc. 2002. ISBN 0716601036. 
• Oliver, Paul. Teach Yourself World Faiths. McGraw-Hill. 2002. ISBN 0071384480. 
• Mattar, Philip (编). Encyclopedia of Modern Middle East & North Africa. Thomson/Gale. 2004. ISBN 0028657691. 
• Bowker, John W. (编). The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. 1997. ISBN 0192139657. 
• O'Brien, Joanne; Palmer, Martin. Religions Of The World. Facts on File. 2005. ISBN 0816062587. 
• Chernow, Barbara A.; Vallasi, George A. The Columbia Encyclopedia. Houghton Mifflin. 1993. ISBN 039562438x. 
• Academic American Encyclopedia. Grolier Academic Reference. 1998. ISBN 0717220680. 
• Smith, Jonathan Z.; American Academy of Religion. The Harpercollins Dictionary of Religion. HarperCollins. 1995. ISBN 0060675152. 
• The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition.. Brill. 1960. Ref DS37.E523. 
• Sanasarian, Eliz. Religious Minorities in Iran. Cambridge University Press. 2000. ISBN 0521770734. 

External links

• Bahá'í World Statistics
• adherents.com - A website about religious adherents of numerous faiths
  • adherents.com - Specific compiled stats on Bahá'í communities