Editing Baháʼí Faith (section)

== Demographics ==
{{Further|Baháʼí Faith by country|Growth of religion}}

[[File:Lotus Temple in New Delhi 03-2016.jpg|thumb |alt=A large temple in the shape of an open lotus flower|The [[Lotus Temple]], the first [[Baháʼí House of Worship]] of India, built in 1986. It attracts an estimated 4.5&nbsp;million visitors a year.|214x214px]]

As of 2020, there were about 8 million Bahá'ís in the world.{{sfn|Smith|2022b|p=509}}<ref name="wrd-2020-bahais">{{Cite web |title=Baha'is by Country |website=World Religion Database |publisher=Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs |date=2020 |url=https://worldreligiondatabase.org/ |access-date=21 December 2020}} {{subscription required}}</ref> In 2013, two scholars of demography wrote that, "The Baha'i Faith is the only religion to have grown faster in every United Nations region over the past 100 years than the general population; Bahaʼi [sic] was thus the fastest-growing religion between 1910 and 2010, growing at least twice as fast as the population of almost every UN region."{{sfn|Johnson|Grim|2013}} 
[[File:Baha'i Temple at Dusk.jpg|thumb|The [[Baháʼí House of Worship (Wilmette, Illinois)|Baháʼí House of Worship]] in [[Wilmette, Illinois]], US is the oldest surviving Baháʼí House of Worship in the world.{{sfn|Stausberg|2011|p=96}}|214x214px]]
The largest proportions of the total worldwide Bahá'í population were found in sub-Saharan Africa (29.9%) and South Asia (26.8%), followed by Southeast Asia (12.7%) and Latin America (12.2%).{{sfn|Smith|2022a|p=510}} Lesser numbers are found in North America (7.6%) and the Middle East/North Africa (6.2%), with the smallest being in Europe (2.0%), Australasia (1.6%), and [[Northeast Asia]] (0.9%). In 2015, the Bahá'í Faith was the second largest religion in Iran,<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Iran – Religious Adherents
| url = https://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_110_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date = Jul 21, 2022
| archive-date = 12 June 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210612220129/https://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_110_2.asp
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Panama,<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Panama – Religious Adherents
| url = http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_174_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date =Jul 21, 2022}}</ref> Belize,<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Belize – Religious Adherents
| url = http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_23_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date = Jul 21, 2022
| archive-date = 22 November 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151122030203/http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_23_2.asp
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Bolivia,<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Bolivia – Religious Adherents
| url = http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_27_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date = Jul 21, 2022
| archive-date = 15 October 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151015204554/http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_27_2.asp
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Zambia,<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Zambia – Religious Adherents
| url =http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_245_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date =Jul 21, 2022}}</ref> and Papua New Guinea,<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Papua New Guinea – Religious Adherents
| url =http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_175_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date =Jul 21, 2022}}</ref> and the third largest in Chad<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Chad – Religious Adherents
| url = http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_45_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date =Jul 21, 2022}}</ref> and Kenya.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Kenya – Religious Adherents
| url = http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_121_2.asp
| publisher = Association of Religion Data Archives
| date = 2015
| access-date =Jul 21, 2022}}</ref>

From the Bahá'í Faith's origins in the 19th century until the 1950s, the vast majority of Baháʼís were found in Iran; converts from outside Iran were mostly found in India and the Western world.{{sfn|Smith|Momen|1989|pp=70–71}} From having roughly 200,000 Baháʼís in 1950,{{sfn|Smith|2016}} the religion grew to have over 4 million by the late 1980s, with a wide international distribution.{{sfn|Smith|Momen|1989|pp=70–71}}{{sfn|Daume|Watson|1988|p=303}} As of 2008, there were about 110,000 followers in Iran.<ref>{{Citation |title=Bibliography |date=2015-08-25 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvx06zsp.15 |work=No Jim Crow Church |pages=287–302 |access-date=2023-09-26 |publisher=University Press of Florida|doi=10.2307/j.ctvx06zsp.15 }}</ref> Most of the growth in the late 20th century was seeded out of North America by means of the planned migration of individuals.<ref name=HampsonPhD>{{Cite thesis |last=Hampson |first=Arthur |date=May 1980 |title=The growth and spread of the Baha'i Faith |type=PhD |publisher=Department of Geography, University of Hawaii |id=UMI 8022655 |oclc=652914306 |url=https://bahai-library.com/hampson_growth_spread_bahai |pages=458–459, 472|access-date=Jul 24, 2022}}</ref> Yet, rather than being a cultural spread from either Iran or North America, in 2001, sociologist [[David B. Barrett]] wrote that the Baháʼí Faith is, "A world religion with no racial or national focus".{{sfn|World Christian Encyclopedia|2001}} However, the growth has not been even. From the late 1920s to the late 1980s, the religion was banned and its adherents were harassed in the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-led [[Eastern Bloc]],<ref name="Kolarz">{{Cite book| last=Kolarz| first=Walter| author-link=Walter Kolarz |title=Religion in the Soviet Union |publisher=St. Martin's Press |series=Armenian Research Center collection |year=1962 |pages=470–473 |oclc=254603830}}</ref>{{sfn|Momen|1994a}}<ref name="hass">{{Cite journal
| last = Hassall
| first = Graham
| title = Notes on the Bábí and Baháʼí Religions in Russia and its Territories
| journal = Journal of Baháʼí Studies
| volume = 5
| issue = 3
| pages = 
| date = 1992
| url = http://bahai-studies.ca/journal/files/jbs/5.3%20Hassall.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706164853/http://bahai-studies.ca/journal/files/jbs/5.3%20Hassall.pdf |archive-date=July 6, 2011
| access-date =Jul 21, 2022}}</ref> and then again from the 1970s into the 1990s across some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.{{sfn|Smith|Momen|1989}}<ref>{{Cite web
 | last = compiled by Wagner
 | first = Ralph D.
 | title = NIGER
 | work = Synopsis of References to the Baháʼí Faith, in the US State Department's Reports on Human Rights 1991–2000
 | publisher = Baháʼí Library Online
 | url = http://bahai-library.com/documents/hr/hr-niger.htm
 | access-date = May 4, 2008}}</ref> The most intense opposition has been in Iran and neighboring [[Shia Islam|Shia]]-majority countries,<ref>For one recent published study see: {{Cite journal
| last = Morlock
| first = Naghme Naseri
| title = Religious Persecution & Oppression: A Study of Iranian Baha'ís' Strategies of Survival
| journal = Journal of Hate Studies
| volume = 17
| issue = 2
| pages = 15–24
| date = 6 Dec 2021
| doi = 10.33972/jhs.201
| s2cid = 245113244
| doi-access = free
}}</ref> considered an attempted [[genocide]] by some scholars, watchdog agencies and [[human rights]] organizations.{{sfn|Affolter|2005}}<ref>{{Cite web| last =Dallaire| first =Roméo| author-link =Roméo Dallaire| title =Baha'i People in Iran—Inquiry| work =Statements from Roméo Dallaire| publisher =The Liberal caucus in the Senate| date =29 November 2011| url =http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/In-The-Senate/Statement/14788_Bahai-People-in-IranInquiry| access-date =2012-03-28| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140106032336/http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/In-The-Senate/Statement/14788_Bahai-People-in-IranInquiry| archive-date =6 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title =Genocide and politicide watch: Iran | publisher =Genocide Watch; The International Alliance to End Genocide | date =2012-03-28 | url =http://www.genocidewatch.org/iran.html | access-date = 2012-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| last = Seyfried | first = Rebeka | title =Progress report from Mercyhurst: Assessing the risk of genocide in Iran | work =Iranian Baha'is | publisher = The Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention | date =2012-03-21 | url =http://thesentinelproject.org/progress-update-from-mercyhurst-assessing-risk-of-genocide-iran/ | access-date = 2012-03-28}}</ref> Meanwhile, in other times and places, the religion has experienced surges in growth. Before it was banned in certain countries, the religion "hugely increased" in [[sub-Saharan Africa]].<ref name="UofC">{{Cite web|title=Overview Of World Religions |work=General Essay on the Religions of Sub-Saharan Africa |publisher=Division of Religion and Philosophy, [[University of Cumbria]] |url=http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/sub/geness.html |access-date=2008-04-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209082606/http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/sub/geness.html |archive-date=2007-12-09 }}</ref> In 1989 the Universal House of Justice named [[Bolivia]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Haiti]], [[India]], [[Liberia]], [[Peru]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Taiwan]] as countries where the growth of the religion had been notable in the previous decades.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/19890421_001/1#313524548|title=Riḍván 1989 – To the Bahá'ís of the World &#124; Bahá'í Reference Library|website=www.bahai.org}}</ref> Bahá'í sources claimed "more than five million" Bahá'ís in 1991–92.{{sfn|Baháʼí World News Service|1992}} However, since around 2001 the Universal House of Justice has prioritized statistics of the community by their levels of activity rather than simply their population of avowed adherents or numbers of local assemblies.{{sfn|Stockman|2022a|p=565}}{{sfn|Stockman|2022b|p=578}}{{sfn|Hassal|2022|p=588}}

Because Bahá'ís do not represent the majority of the population in any country,{{sfn|Park|2004}} and most often represent only a tiny fraction of countries' total populations,{{sfn|Association of Religion Data Archives|2010}} there are problems of [[under-reporting]].{{sfn|Pew Global Religious Landscape|2012}} In addition, there are examples where the adherents have their highest density among minorities in societies who face their own challenges.<ref name="Kolodner">{{Cite web| last =Kolodner| first =Alexander| title =The Baha'i Faith Compared to Race in American Counties| date =May 1, 2014| url =https://sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2014/11/Kolodner_Alex.pdf| access-date =March 18, 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Smith|2022b|p=619}}

[[Malietoa Tanumafili II]] of [[Samoa]], who became Baháʼí in 1968 and died in 2007, was the first serving head of state to embrace the Baháʼí Faith.{{sfn|Hassall|2022}} Baháʼís consider [[Marie of Romania|Queen Marie of Romania]] to be the first crowned head to accept and promote the teachings of Baháʼu'lláh.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MARIE ALEXANDRA VICTORIA |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/marie-alexandra/ |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en-US}}</ref>