RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF THE WORLD.

(Prepared by Professor A. J. SCHEM for the "National Almanac.")

I. SUMMARY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC, THE PROTESTANT, AND THE TOTAL CHRISTIAN POPULATION OF

THE WORLD.

* The 10,700 Christians of Russian America belong to the Greek Church. + The Protestant population of South America consists of a steadily-increasing number of congregations of German and Swiss immigrants in Brazil, of a colony of Waldensians in Uruguay, of German, English, American, and other foreign residents in all the large towns of South America, and a small number of congregations of native converts to Protestantism.

In the number of Roman Catholics are included those Eastern Churches which have acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope. Thus, there are in Asiatic Turkey 25,000 United Greeks, 75,000 United Armenians, 20,000 United Syrians, 140,000 Maronites; and in Syria 150,000 Syrian Christians (Christians of St. Thomas), of whom 96,000 (the "United Syrians"), with 97 churches, still follow the old rite of their Church, while the others have entirely identified themselves with the Latin rite.

†The Protestant population of Asia is made up of the Lutherans (mostly Germans) in Siberia, the Protestant Europeans and Americans living in China, India the Archipelago, and other parts of Asia, and the missionary congregations of converts. The latter class are most numerous in East and Farther India.

Other Christian Denominations.-The Christians of Asiatic Turkey who are not Protestants or Roman Catholics belong to the Greek or Armenian Churches. These two Churches are the most numerous Christian bodies also in Asiatic Turkey, which contains, moreover, adherents of several other Oriental Churches, as Nestorians, Jacobites, &c., the aggregate number of whom may amount to about 200,000. China contains, besides Protestants and Roman Catholics, a few Greek congregations, for the most part descendants of Russian captives. Also in Tartary the Greek Church has already gained root, in consequence of the progress of the Russians. The Christian population of India comprises 70,000 Syrians, 200,000 Jacobites in Malabar and Travancore, several thousand Armenians, and a few Abyssinians. The Christians of Persia are mostly Armenians and Nestorians. The statements about their number greatly differ. That of the Armenians is estimated from 30,000 to 200,000; that of the Nestorians, from 25,000 to 100,000.

*The islands belonging to France, Spain, and Portugal are almost exclusively inhabited by Roman Catholics. In the extensive Portuguese possessions in Angola and Benguela, where formerly the Roman Catholic Church likewise prevailed, a large portion of the population has relapsed into paganism. In the Roman Catholic population of Egypt are included 9000 Latins. 13,000 Catholic Copts, 3000 Melkites (United Greeks), 500 Armenians, 300 Maronites, 200 Syrians, and 100 Chaldeans. The most numerous denomination of Christians in Egypt are the Copts, whose number is estimated by some at 150,000, by others at 250,000. Besides these, there are in Egypt-Syrian Christians, 5000; Greeks, 5000; Armenians, 2000.

The Christian population of Abyssinia belongs to the Abyssinian Church.

Liberia, the Cape Colony, and most of the other English Possessions are Protestant countries. The island of Mauritius, which also belongs to England, has, however, a predominantly Roman Catholic population (about 120,000).

The entire population of Victoria in 1861 was 540.322,-an increase of 129,546, or 31.54 per cent. since 1857. The 27,226 not specified is made up of adherents to the smaller religious bodies, of which almost every one has some representative in the colony.

NOTE. The Roman Catholics number about 240,000 in the English Possessions, 20,000 in the French Possessions, 20,000 in the Sandwich Islands, and 10,000 in other islands.

The number of Protestants is about 1,030,000 in the English Possessions, 8000 in the French Possessions, 40,000 in the Sandwich Islands, 22,000 in other islands.

VIII. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1862.

D., Diocese; Con., Conference; Cl., Classis; S., Synod; A., Association; E., Elderships;
Y.M., Yearly Meeting.

Besides 4984 local preachers. The returns of the Methodist Church South are not of later date than 1860.

91

56

$10,000

78

59

6,650

474

444

57,567

193

116

12,934

Estimated population adhering to the Roman Catholic Church, 3,177,140; to the Universalists, 600,000.

IX. ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS OF THE BRITISH PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA.-CENSUS OF 1861.

* There were, besides, in Nova Scotia,-Free-Will and Free-Christian Baptists, 6704; Reformed Presbyterians, 236; Sandemanians, 46; Evangelical Union. 143; Swedenborgians, 13; Deists, 3.