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%

Vietnam is officially an atheist country, meaning its government doesn't support any specific religion. However, many people in Vietnam are still very religious.

The three main religions in Vietnam are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. These are often grouped together and called the 'Three Teachings' or Tam Giao. Many studies show that about 70-90% of Vietnamese people follow the Tam Giao.

About 6-8% of people in Vietnam are Christians, mostly Roman Catholics. Another 1-2% follow local traditional religions, which often include beliefs about spirits in nature. Around 1% of people don't identify with a religion, but their lives are still strongly influenced by Buddhist ideas.

Later religions in Vietnam include Christianity and Islam. Newer religious movements include Hoa Hao Buddhism and Cao Đài.

Today, about 85.5% of Vietnamese people are Buddhist, mostly following the Mahayana branch. About 6.8% are Christians, mainly Roman Catholic. Around 2% belong to local religions like Cao Dai. About 0.8% are Hindu and 0.5% are Muslim.

Buddhism in Vietnam

The Great Buddha statue in Nha Trang.

Among all the religions in Vietnam, Buddhism has the most followers. The Buddhist Church of Vietnam states that about 45 million people have officially become Buddhists. Another 12 million people consider themselves Buddhist without formally joining. This means there are about 57 million Buddhists in Vietnam.

There are two main types of Buddhism in Vietnam: Mahayana and Theravada. Mahayana Buddhism is more popular with most Vietnamese people. Theravada Buddhism is more common among the Khmer people, who are an ethnic group living in Vietnam.