Pew survey tallies larger Buddhist population than previously thought

A new study by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life estimates that between 1 and 1.3 percent of the United States population—between 3 and 4 million people—identifies as Buddhist, a dramatic increase from a 2007 Pew survey that found only about .7 percent of the population to be Buddhist.

The new study, which focused on religious identity and practices of Asian Americans, also estimated that around two-thirds of American Buddhists are Asian American, about double the proportion found in the 2007 survey. The study's authors said the probable reason for the increased estimate of Asian American Buddhists is that the previous survey was only conducted in English and Spanish, while the new survey was also conducted in seven commonly spoken Asian languages.

You can read the full report here.

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