Editing Mongolia (section)

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Mongolia|Freedom of religion in Mongolia}}
{| class="wikitable floatright sortable" style="font-size: 90%"
|-
|+ Religions in Mongolia <br /><small>(population aged 15 and above)<ref name="Religion2010">2010 Population and Housing Census of Mongolia. Data recorded in Brian J. Grim et al. ''Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2014''. BRILL, 2014. p. 152</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Mongolia |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mongolia/ |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=United States Department of State |language=en-US}}</ref></small>
|-
! Religion !! Population!! Share
|-
| '''Non-religious''' || 1,338,528 || 40.6%
|-
| '''Religious''' || ''1,958,338'' || ''59.4%''
|-
| [[Buddhism]] || 1,704,480 || 51.7%
|-
| [[Islam]] || 105,500 || 3.2%
|-
| [[Shamanism]] || 82,422 || 2.5%
|-
| [[Christianity]] || 42,859 || 1.3%
|-
| Other religions || 23,078 || 0.7%
|-
| '''Total''' || '''3,296,866''' || '''100.0%'''
|}

According to the 2020 National Census, among Mongolians aged 15 and above, 59.4% were [[Buddhism in Mongolia|Buddhists]], while 40.6% were [[Irreligion|non-religious]].<ref name=":2" /> <!-- Is the Mongolian state effectively separated from religion (i.e. true secularism), or does it give some kind of special status? -->

[[Mongolian shamanism]] has been widely practiced throughout the history of what is now Mongolia, with similar beliefs being common among the nomads of central Asia. They gradually gave way to [[Tibetan Buddhism]], but shamanism has left a mark on Mongolian religious culture, and it continues to be practiced. The Kazakhs of western Mongolia, some Mongols, and other Turkic peoples in the country traditionally adhere to [[Islam in Mongolia|Islam]].

Throughout much of the 20th century, the [[Mongolian People's Republic|communist]] government repressed religious practices. It targeted the clergy of the Mongolian Buddhist Church, which had been tightly intertwined with the previous feudal government structures (e.g. from 1911 on, the head of the Church had also been the [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the country).<ref name=eb/> In the late 1930s, the regime, then led by [[Khorloogiin Choibalsan]], closed almost all of Mongolia's over 700 Buddhist monasteries and [[Stalinist repressions in Mongolia|killed at least 30,000 people, of whom 18,000 were lamas]].<ref name="Thirty thousand">{{Cite web |title=Historical Injustice and Democratic Transition in Eastern Asia and Northern Europe, London 2002, p. 156 |url=http://www.chriskaplonski.com/downloads/bullets.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511044943/http://www.chriskaplonski.com/downloads/bullets.pdf |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |access-date=2010-12-23 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> The number of [[Buddhist monk]]s dropped from 100,000 in 1924 to 110 in 1990.<ref name="eb">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Mongolia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389335/Mongolia |access-date=2013-06-28 |date=July 11, 1921 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514054518/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389335/Mongolia |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

[[File:Amarbayasgalant monastery - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|[[Amarbayasgalant Monastery]]]]
The [[fall of communism]] in 1991 restored public religious practice. [[Tibetan Buddhism]], which had been the predominant religion prior to the rise of communism, again rose to become the most widely practised religion in Mongolia. The highest-ranking lama of Buddhism in Mongolia, has been vacant since the 9th Jebtsundamba's passing in 2012<ref name="thediplomat.com">{{Cite web |title=China's Grip on Mongolia's Quest for Spiritual Leadership |url=https://thediplomat.com/2023/03/chinas-grip-on-mongolias-quest-for-spiritual-leadership/ |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=thediplomat.com |language=en-US |archive-date=25 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325161712/https://thediplomat.com/2023/03/chinas-grip-on-mongolias-quest-for-spiritual-leadership/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and the search for the next Jebtsundamba Khutuktu is being complicated by Beijing's desire to assert control over Tibetan Buddhism.<ref name="thediplomat.com"/>

The end of religious repression in the 1990s also allowed for other religions to spread in the country. According to the Christian missionary group [[Barnabas Fund]], the number of Christians grew from just four in 1989 to around 40,000 {{As of|2008|lc=y}}. In May 2013, [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) held a cultural program to celebrate twenty years of LDS Church history in Mongolia, with 10,900 members, and 16 church buildings in the country.<ref name="LDS Members Celebrate 20 Years of Church in Mongolia">{{Cite web |title=Members Celebrate 20 Years of Church in Mongolia |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/members-celebrate-20-years-of-church-in-mongolia?lang=eng |access-date=2013-06-02 |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |df=mdy-all |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710143743/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/members-celebrate-20-years-of-church-in-mongolia?lang=eng |url-status=live}}</ref> There are some 1,000 Catholics in Mongolia and, in 2003, a missionary from the [[Philippines]] was named Mongolia's first [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] bishop.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Religions in Mongolia |url=http://www.mongolia-attractions.com/religions-in-mongolia.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513073925/https://www.mongolia-attractions.com/religions-in-mongolia.html |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |access-date=2010-05-02 |publisher=Mongolia-attractions.com |df=mdy}}</ref> In 2017 [[Seventh-day Adventists]] reported 2,700 members in six churches up from zero members in 1991.<ref name="adventistyearbook.org">{{Cite web |date=2019-12-16 |title=Mongolia Mission |url=https://www.adventistyearbook.org/entity?EntityID=13261 |access-date=2020-05-29 |publisher=Adventistyearbook.org |archive-date=9 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209182208/http://www.adventistyearbook.org/default.aspx?page=ViewAdmField&Year=9999&AdmFieldID=MGMF |url-status=live}}</ref>