Editing Modern paganism (section)

===Europe===
{{See also|Modern paganism in German-speaking Europe|Neo-paganism in the Republic of Ireland|Neopaganism in Italy|Modern paganism in Scandinavia|Baltic neopaganism|Modern paganism in the United Kingdom|l2=Ireland|l4=Scandinavia|l6=the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Paganavebury.jpg|thumb|Wiccans gather for a [[Handfasting (Neopaganism)|handfasting]] ceremony at [[Avebury]] in England.]]

====Caucasus region====
Among Circassians, the [[Adyghe Habze]] faith has been revived after the fall of the Soviet Union, and followers of modern pagan faiths were found to constitute 12% in [[Karachay-Cherkessia]] and 3% in [[Kabardino-Balkaria]] (both republics are multiethnic and also have many non-Circassians, especially Russians and Turkic peoples)<ref name="ArenaAtlas">[http://sreda.org/arena Arena – Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143249/http://sreda.org/arena |date=12 June 2018 }} • sreda.org</ref> In [[Abkhazia]], the Abkhaz native faith has also been revived, and in the 2003 census, 8% of residents identified with it (note again that there are many non-Abkhaz in the state including Georgians, Russians and Armenians);<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.portal-credo.ru/site/print.php?act=fresh&id=188 | first = Александр [Alexande] | last = Крылов [Krylov] | script-title = ru:Единая Вера Абхазских "Христиан" и "Мусульман". Особенности религиозного сознания в современной Абхазии | trans-title = Of United Vera Abhazskyh "Christians" & "Muslims." Features of religious consciousness in Modern Abkhazia | publisher = Portal-credo | place = [[Russia|RU]] | date = 17 March 2004 | access-date = 30 May 2011 | language = ru | archive-date = 27 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170827182302/http://www.portal-credo.ru/site/print.php?act=fresh&id=188 | url-status = live }}.</ref> on 3 August 2012 the [[Council of Priests of Abkhazia]] was formally constituted in [[Sukhumi]].<ref>{{Citation|url=http://apsnypress.info/news/6898.html |title=В Абхазии создана религиозная организация "Совет жрецов Абхазии" |trans-title=In Abkhazia creatures Religious Organization "Tip zhretsov Abkhazia" |publisher=[[Apsnypress]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125151156/http://apsnypress.info/news/6898.html |archive-date=25 November 2015 }}.</ref> In North Ossetia, the [[Uatsdin]] faith was revived, and in 2012, 29% of the population identified with it (North Ossetia is about 2/3 Ossetian and 1/3 Russian).{{efn|[http://sreda.org/arena Arena – Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143249/http://sreda.org/arena |date=12 June 2018 }}. Sreda.org; 29% "adhere to a traditional religion of their ancestors, worship gods and the forces of nature". (исповедую
традиционную религию своих предковпоклоняюсь богам и силам природы). This figure compares to 1.2% adherents of ethnic religions in all of the Russian Federation.}} Modern pagan movements are also present to a lesser degree elsewhere; in Dagestan 2% of the population identified with folk religious movements, while data on modern pagans is unavailable for Chechnya and Ingushetia.<ref name="ArenaAtlas"/>

====Volga region====
The [[Mari native religion]] in fact has a continuous existence, but it has co-existed with Orthodox Christianity for centuries and experienced a renewal after the fall of the Soviet Union. A sociological survey conducted in 2004 found that about 15 percent of the population of Mari El consider themselves adherents of the Mari native religion. Since Mari make up just 45 percent of the republic's population of 700,000, this figure means that probably more than a third claim to follow the old religion.<ref>Nikolaus von Twickel. ''[http://www.sptimes.ru/story/29399 Europe's Last Pagans Worship in Mari-El Grove] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617063334/http://www.sptimes.ru/story/29399 |date=17 June 2013 }}''. Saint Petersburg Times, 2009.</ref> The percentage of pagans among the Mari of Bashkortostan and the eastern part of Tatarstan is even higher (up to 69% among women). Mari fled here from forced Christianization in the 17th to 19th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Шнирельман |first1=Виктор |title=Неоязычество на просторах Евразии |date=2001 |location=Москва |isbn=5-89647-050-9}}</ref> A similar number was claimed by [[Victor Schnirelmann]], for whom between a quarter and a half of the Mari either worship the pagan gods or are members of modern pagan groups.<ref>Victor Schnirelmann. ''[http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf Christians Go Home!] {{Webarchive|url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140922163017/http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf |date=22 September 2014 }}''. Journal of Contemporary Religion 17.2. 2002.</ref>

A modern pagan movement drawing from various syncretic practices that had survived among the Christianised Mari people was initiated in 1990<ref name="Schnirelmann206">Schnirelmann, Victor: ''[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140922163017/http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf "Christians! Go home": A Revival of Neo-Paganism between the Baltic Sea and Transcaucasia]''. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2002. p. 206.</ref> that was estimated in 2004 to have won the adherence of 2% of the Mordvin people.<ref>Schnirelmann, Victor: ''[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140922163017/http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf "Christians! Go home": A Revival of Neo-Paganism between the Baltic Sea and Transcaucasia]''. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2002. '''p. 208'''</ref>

====Western Europe====
A study by [[Ronald Hutton]] compared a number of different sources (including membership lists of major UK organizations, attendance at major events, subscriptions to magazines, etc.) and used standard models for extrapolating likely numbers. This estimate accounted for multiple membership overlaps, as well as the number of adherents represented by each attendee of a pagan gathering. Hutton estimated that there are 250,000 modern pagans in [[United Kingdom|the United Kingdom]], roughly equivalent to the national [[Hindu]] community.{{Sfn|Hutton|1999}}

A smaller number is suggested by the results of the [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]], in which a question about religious affiliation was asked for the first time. Respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions, and a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be pagans by this method. These figures were not released as a matter of course by the [[Office for National Statistics]] but were released after an application by the [[Pagan Federation]] of Scotland.<ref>[http://www.scottishpf.org/census.html Pagans and the Scottish Census of 2001] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113182416/http://www.scottishpf.org/census.html |date=13 January 2010 }}. Retrieved 18 October 2007.</ref> This is more than many well known traditions such as [[Rastafari movement|Rastafarian]], [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]] and [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] groups but fewer than the big six of Christianity, [[Islam]], [[Hinduism]], [[Sikhism]], Judaism and [[Buddhism]]. It is also fewer than the adherents of [[Jediism]], whose [[Jedi census phenomenon|campaign]] made their faith the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.<ref>[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/census-2001-summary-theme-figures-and-rankings/390-000-jedis-there-are/jedi.html National Statistics Office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221104906/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/census-2001-summary-theme-figures-and-rankings/390-000-jedis-there-are/jedi.html |date=21 February 2016 }} (2001): '390,000 Jedi There Are'. Retrieved 18 October 2007.</ref>

[[File:Hellen ritual (2).jpg|left|thumb|Modern Hellen ritual in Greece]]

The 2001 UK Census figures did not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the census encouraged Wiccans, Heathens, Druids and others all to use the same write-in term 'pagan' to maximise the numbers reported. However, the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]] made it possible to describe oneself as pagan-Wiccan, pagan-Druid and so on. The figures for England and Wales showed 80,153 describing themselves as pagan (or some subgroup thereof). The largest subgroup was Wicca, with 11,766 adherents.<ref>[[Office for National Statistics]], 11 December 2012, ''[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?newquery=%2A&newoffset=25&pageSize=25&edition=tcm%3A77-286262 2011 Census, Key Statistics for Local Authorities in England and Wales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927041121/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?newquery=%2A&newoffset=25&pageSize=25&edition=tcm%3A77-286262 |date=27 September 2015 }}''. Accessed 12 December 2012.</ref> The overall numbers of people self-reporting as pagan rose between 2001 and 2011. In 2001, about seven people per 10,000 UK respondents were pagan; in 2011, the number (based on the England and Wales population) was 14.3 people per 10,000 respondents.

Census figures in Ireland do not provide a breakdown of religions outside of the major Christian denominations and other major world religions. A total of 22,497 people stated Other Religion in the 2006 census; and a rough estimate is that there were 2,000–3,000 practicing pagans in Ireland in 2009. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. Irish paganism is often strongly concerned with issues of place and language.<ref>Butler, Jenny, "Irish neo-paganism". pages 111–130 in Olivia Cosgrove et al. (eds), ''Ireland's new religious movements''. Cambridge Scholars, 2011</ref>