Religion in Vietnam Facts for Kids

Religions in Vietnam
Religion			Percent
Buddhist			85.5%
Christian			6.8%
Indigenous religions			2%
Hindu			0.8%
Muslim			0.5%

Officially, Vietnam is an Atheist state. Despite this, many of its citizens are religious. The three main religions in Vietnam are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Sometimes, they are grouped together as one religion called the three teachings or tam giáo. According to many studies, 70-90 percent of Vietnamese people are tam giáo. 6-8 percent are Christians (mostly Roman Catholic) and 1-2 percent practice indigenous, animist religions. About 1 percent are not religious, but have a strong Buddhist influence on their life.

The earliest established religions were Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Today, these religions are grouped into the same religion known as the Triple religion or Tam Giao which has many followers today. Later religions in Vietnam include Christianity and Islam. New religious movements include Hao Hao Buddhhism and Cao Dai. About 85.5% are Buddhist ( mostly Mahayana), 6.8% are Christians (mostly Roman Catholic), 2% belong to indigenous religions such as Cao Dai. About 0.8% are Hindus and 0.5% are Muslim.

Buddhism

The Great Buddha statue in Nha Trang.

Among the religions in Vietnam, Buddhism has the most followers. According to the statistics of the Buddhist Church of Vietnam, 45 million people is taking refuge in the three jewels and about 12 million are just Buddhist making it about 57 million Buddhists. There are two main branches of Buddhism in Vietnam, Mahayana and Theravada. Mahayana is more popular with the people while Theravada being more popular with the Khemer people.