Eastern Orthodoxy by country
Based on the numbers of adherents, the Eastern Orthodox Church (also known as Eastern Orthodoxy) is the second largest Christian communion in the world after the Roman Catholic Church. The most common estimates of the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide is approximately 200–260 million. The numerous Protestant groups in the world, if taken all together, outnumber the Eastern Orthodox, but they differ theologically and do not form a single communion.
Freedom of religion in Russia
Approximately 100 million citizens consider themselves Russian Orthodox Christians, although the vast majority are not regular churchgoers. The largest religious minority is formed by 14 to 23 million Muslims, most of whom live in the Volga-Urals region and the North Caucasus, although Moscow, St. Petersburg, and parts of Siberia and Yakutia have sizable Muslim populations. The Buddhist Association of Russia estimated that there were between 1.5 and 2 million Buddhists, who live in the traditionally Buddhist regions of Buryatiya, Tuva, and Kalmykiya. According to the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, Protestants make up the second-largest group of Christian believers, with 3,500 registered organizations and more than 2 million followers. There are an estimated 600,000 Jews (0.4% of the population), the vast majority of which live in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Catholic Church estimated that there are 600,000 Catholics, most of whom are not ethnic Russians. In Yakutiya and Chukotka, pantheistic and nature-based religions are practiced independently or alongside other religions.