How many gods and goddesses are there?

So, how many gods and goddesses do you think are there? If not for real, but at least in people’s belief. Gods and goddess are the result of people’s religion and belief. Not everyone will believe in all the gods, goddess or deities but only the ones related to their own religion. So, it might not make any sense trying to count the total number of gods and goddess here, still then let’s try to find out.  

Since long, people have attempted to explain the mysteries and fears, through worship and belief in gods.

Today, most of us don’t believe in Zeus, the most powerful god according to the Ancient Greeks, or you don't believe in in Odin the most powerful god for the Nordic religion, or you don't even believe in Thor and his mighty hammer. Or South American gods/goddesses who required human sacrifice.

Watch the video on same topic here:

Link to video you you want to watch in YouTube

Now, these are just a sample of few gods and goddesses out there. So counting all the gods and goddess can be a very difficult endeavor given that: 

 a) Throughout the human history, there would probably have been religions that were never documented.

b) Also Opinions on god and goddess can vary widely, even within the people of the same religion.

c) Gods sometimes moved between religions. For example, Hinduism and Buddhism have many similar gods and deities with different names.

 

Nevertheless, if we count the number of gods and goddesses, it is expected to be considerably greater than the number of religions, because a lot of religions are polytheistic, meaning they believe in more than one god or goddess.

 

Some estimates shows, there are 4,300 - 10000 religious groups in the world, depending on how you define religion.

Now, taking just 4300 religions and assigning 3 gods per religion on average, although some religion has hundreds or even thousands of deities, then there can be around 12,900 gods and goddesses.

But the estimates can vary largely, A book on Encyclopedia of Gods, lists over 2,500 Deities of the World, likewise another estimates shows that, there can be millions of gods and goddesses if we include all the ancient and long forgotten god and goddesses. This figure comes from the fact that the ancient Hittites claimed to have more than 1000 deities, and Hindu and Buddhist religion of today equally have many deities of worship.

Whatever it is, your god or goddess is just one among so many, so does it even make sense to disbelief so many (N-1) for the claim of one to be the true god?