Читать книгу The Atlas of Religion - Joanne O'Brien - Страница 28

Buddhists make up nearly 6 percent of the world’s population. More than 98 percent live in South-East Asia, where new political freedoms in many countries have witnessed a growth of Buddhist practice and monasticism, particularly since the 1990s. In Cambodia, for example, only 3,000 monks were thought to have survived the civil war and its ensuing genocide. By 2006 the number of monks and pagodas had returned to pre-war levels of 1969–70. However, Buddhist activities are monitored or restricted in other countries, such as North Korea, China and Burma. Outside Asia, there has been a considerable growth in Buddhism, with more than 3 million Buddhists in the USA, over 1.5 million in Europe and almost 700,000 in Latin America. Within the three major traditions or branches of Buddhism there are hundreds of smaller organizations and groups, including the English Sangha Trust, with 10,000 supporters; the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, with 800,000 members, and Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, with 19.5 million members.

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