According to the World Christian Database, there are approximately 267 million ethnoreligionists in the world (2015), representing 3.6% of the global population. The ten largest populations are found in Asia and Africa. Ethnoreligionists include “animists, spirit-worshippers, shamanists, ancestor-venerators, polytheists, pantheists, and local or tribal folk-religionists” (The World’s Religions in Figures).

The prayer guide Operation World states,

“In traditional cultures, [ethnic religions and animism] might be in relative decline, but they continue to deeply influence and underlie the four major world religions that have supplanted them.”