In fact, Muslims and the unaffiliated in Europe both experienced natural increases in their populations, with our new report estimating that there were over 2 million and 1 million more births than deaths, respectively, between and Globally, Muslims make up the second largest religious group, with 1.
Muslims experienced the greatest natural increase among all religious groups, including Christians. Births to Muslims between and outnumbered deaths by million million births vs. Globally, all major groups had more births than deaths.
Not all babies will remain in the religion of their mother, of course. In some countries, including the United States, it is fairly common for adults to leave their childhood religion and switch to another faith or no faith.
Globally, however, the effect of religious switching is overshadowed by the impact of differences in fertility and mortality. Indeed, fertility differences between religious groups are one of the key factors behind current population trends and will be important for future growth. Globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate of any religious group — an average of 2. This fertility advantage is one reason why Muslims are expected to catch up with Christians in absolute number and as a share of the global population in the coming decades.
Christians have the second highest fertility rate, at 2. Hindu and Jewish fertility 2. All other major religious groups have fertility levels too low to sustain their populations. The number of Christians around the world has nearly quadrupled in the last years, from about million in to more than 2 billion in This apparent stability, however, masks a momentous shift.
At the same time, Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century. Christianity today — unlike a century ago — is truly a global faith.
See world maps weighted by Christian population in and The study is based primarily on a country-by-country analysis of about 2, data sources, including censuses and nationally representative population surveys. Christians are diverse theologically as well as geographically, the new study finds. About half are Catholic. See Defining Christian Traditions. Clearly, Christianity has spread far from its historical origins.
For example:. The Pew Forum study suggests at least four possible answers, depending on how one divides up the world:. This reflects the fact that the total population of the Global South is about 4. Another way of looking at the distribution of Christians around the world is by region. Numerically, at least, Europe no longer dominates global Christianity the way it did years ago.
Rather, the bulk of Christians are in:. The three countries with the largest Christian populations — the United States, Brazil and Mexico — are in the Americas. Today, Christianity remains the world's largest religious group. According to the Pew Research Center , in , there were 2. Nearly one-third or The term Christian encompasses a broad range of denominations, with Roman Catholicism comprising the largest group made up of around 1.
Protestants , Evangelicals, Orthodox , Anglicans, and many other sub-denominations are included in the count. About half of all Christians live in just 10 countries. In , the top three populations were the United States, Brazil, and Mexico:. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions between denominations in different countries, so there is an overlapping of many denominations.
That means about million Americans call themselves Christians. By comparison, the next largest religions in America are Judaism and Islam. Combined, these faiths represent less than three percent of the United States population. However, according to ReligiousTolerance. Of the approximate 2. These three categories are not mutually exclusive. On average, about , Christians worldwide are martyred for their faith per year. According to Open Doors , 11 Christians are killed in the world each day for their decision to follow Jesus Christ.
0コメント