The most Christian region of the world is sub-Saharan Africa. The world’s fastest growing religion is Islam.
Those are among the findings of the Global Religious Landscape study from Pew Research, which tracks the changes in world religion from 2010 to 2020.
From 2010 to 2020, the world’s population grew from 6.84 billion to 7.77 billion, an increase of 929 million people, which amounts to a growth rate of 13.6%. Since the population grew, most world religions also grew (with the exception of Buddhism). The most meaningful measure of a how a religion is doing is its share of the population.
What follows are some findings from the report.
Where Are the World’s Christians?
Africa now has 30.7% of the world’s Christians (up from 24.8% in 2010).
Next is Latin America, with 24.1% (down slightly from 24.7% in 2010).
Next is Europe, with 22.3%. (Europe was #1 in 2010 with 25.8%, down sharply.)
Next is Asia-Pacific, with 11.6% (the same as in 2010).
Next is North America, with 10.5% (replacing Asia-Pacific at next to the last, with a drop from 12.4% in 2010).
Last is the Middle East-North Africa, with .6% (up from .5% in 2010).
No longer can anyone claim that Christianity is a “white man’s religion.” These numbers are a testimony to the miraculous effectiveness of Christian missionaries. They really did spread the Gospel throughout the world, starting what today are indigenous churches that have passed in numbers those of the regions that originally sent the missionaries!
Furthermore, while a large number of the Christians in the state churches of Europe and in the mainline Protestant churches of North America are “progressive,” to the point of denying many of the tenets and moral teachings of historic Christianity, the “mission field” churches of Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East tend to be conservative in their theology and their moral teachings.
How Many Hold to the Various World Religions?
Christianity remains the world’s largest religion with 2.3 billion professed followers, which is 28.8% of the world’s population. This is a growth of 121.6 million from 2010. And yet, it is also a decline of 1.8% in the share of the world’s population, which was 30.6% in 2010.
Muslims are in second place and gaining, with 2.0 billion adherents, which is 25.6% of the population. That is a growth of 346.8 million from 2010. This is an increase of 1.8% from 2010 when it was 23.9%.
Third place may be the biggest story from the study: the rise of the unaffiliated, those who do not identify with any religion. This is not just an American and European phenomenon. The unaffiliated number 1.9 billion souls, up 270.1 million from 2010. This comes to 24.2% of the world’s population, an increase of .9% in 2010. The unaffiliated and Muslims were the only religious categories that grew in their share of the world’s population.
Hindus are fourth, with 1.2 billion followers, an increase of 126.3 million. This is 14.9% of the world’s population, down only slightly from 15% in 2010.
In fifth place are Buddhists, with 0.3 billion followers, which is 4.1% of the world’s population. This is a loss of 18.6 million adherents from 2010, when Buddhists made up 4.9% of the world’s population. Buddhism is the only major religion in the Pew study that had fewer adherents than it did in 2010.
In sixth place are “other religions,” a catch-all that includes Baha’is, Taoists, Shintoists, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Wiccans, Animists, etc. This basket of religions accounts for 0.2 billion people, up 18.1 million. This comes to 2.2% of the world’s population, which is the same that it was in 2010.
In last place are the Jews, with 0.01 billion, an increase of .09 million. This comes to 0.02% of the world’s population, the same as it was in 2010.
What Religions Are Growing?
Islam is the fastest growing religion by far, as measured by percent of the world’s population. The number of new Muslims, 346.8 million, is more than the increase in all other religions combined.
In second place: the unaffiliated, who now comprise nearly a quarter of the world’s population. Taken as a whole, the number of people in the world who have a religious affiliation rose by 11%, but the number without an affiliation rose by 17%. Every region showed an increase in the number of people without a religion. This category also grew faster than religious affiliations in every region except for Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The report comments,
Many religiously unaffiliated people were raised with a religion but no longer identify with it in adulthood. This pattern is common in European and North American countries, as well as in Australia and New Zealand, where many people who were raised Christian no longer claim any religious affiliation.
What Accounts for These Changes?
The Pew study explains these shifts mainly in terms of demographics. Certain groups with particular religions have older populations and a falling birthrate. Therefore, that religion is declining in numbers. Europe and North America have smaller families, so the dominant religion of Christianity has fewer members. Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, has large families and a growing population, so the number of Christians there is increasing. The same is true of the Islamic nations of the Middle East and Northern Africa.
The study also cites the phenomenon of religious “switching,” people changing from one religion to another. This is happening especially within Christianity, with people brought up in the church switching to “unaffiliated.”
The study gives a chart for the rates of “leaving and joining.” For every 100 people brought up in the church, an average of 17.1 leave, while only 5.5 join, for a net loss of 11.6. For every 100 of the unaffiliated, 7.5 leave for a religion, while 24.2 join the unaffiliated from a religion.
With Muslims, though, few join (1.5) but few leave (1.2). The same is true for Hindus, with only 0.9 joining and only 1.2 leaving.
Islam and Hinduism are intimately tied to particular cultures. You are born into a religion like you are born into a culture.
Christianity has some of that, but it hinges more on individual beliefs and personal faith. That makes it easier to leave. If a person no longer believes in the tenets or practices of Christianity, he or she is no longer a Christian. But it isn’t necessary to change one’s culture. In fact, since the culture has mostly lost its Christian identity, giving up one’s faith can be culturally advantageous.
Conclusions?
So what are we to make of this information? Some experts discussing this study are projecting that in another ten years, Islam is likely to overtake and surpass Christianity as the world’s largest religion. What would that mean for the church?
Would progressives in the name of intersectionality start defending Christianity as a “minority” religion as they are currently doing for Islam? If Africa is the center of Christianity, can Christians deflect criticism of the faith as being “racist,” as is currently happening with criticism of Islam?
Somehow I don’t think so. Should we be surprised at these developments? Doesn’t the Bible predict a great falling away from the faith (Matthew 24:10–12, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 Timothy 4:1)? What difference should this information make, if any, to the work of the church and the lives of Christians?
The Pew study has much more information and analysis of this data. I invite you to make a deeper dive into it. If you find more interesting facts and more thoughts about any of this, please post them in the comments.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In