The country has an area of 38,023 square miles and a population of 49 million. According to the most recent census data (2005), the percentages of adherents to the predominant religious communities are: Buddhist, 22.8 percent; Protestant, 18.3 percent; and Roman Catholic, 10.9 percent.
No official figures were available on the membership of other religious groups, which include Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Seventh-day Adventist Church, Daesun Jinrihoe, Unification Church, and Islam.
According to Gallup Korea's 2004 survey on the state of religion in the country, 36 percent of those who practiced a faith reported that they attended religious services or rituals at a church or temple more than once a week, 10.6 percent attended two to three times per month, 20.6 percent attended once or twice a year, and 4.9 percent did not attend services. Of those who attended more than once a week, Protestants had the highest attendance rate at 71 percent, Catholics at 42.9 percent, and Buddhists at 3.5 percent.
Population | Population (2009 est.) 22,665,345 |
Religious Demographics | traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way) |
Ethnic Groups | Ethnic Groups racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese |
Languages | Languages Korean |
Country Flag | ![]() |