Theology scholars and a global network of researchers are using big data to map religion's history in China and explain its rapid growth. Over the past four decades, Christianity has grown faster in China than anywhere else in the world.
According to scholar Philip Jenkins Christianity is growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries and sub-Saharan Africa.
Although Christians will continue to be the largest religious group in the region, Europe's Christian population is expected to drop by about 100 million people, falling from 553 million in 2010 to 454 million in 2050.
Christianity, the largest religion in the United States, experienced a 20th-century high of 91% of the total population in 1976. This declined to 73.7% by 2016 and 64% in 2022.
Not only is religion growing overall, but Christianity specifically is growing. With a 1.17% growth rate, almost 2.56 billion people will identify as a Christian by the middle of 2022. By 2050, that number is expected to top 3.33 billion.
The United States has the largest Christian population in the world, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and the Philippines.
From 2000 to 2022, the global Christian population increased by 1.18% annually, with Pentecostals / Charismatics seeing the highest annual growth rate (1.88%), followed by evangelicals (1.79%), independents (1.65%), Protestants (1.58%), Roman Catholics (0.93%), unaffiliated Christians (0.82%) and Orthodox Christians ( ...
Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.
Some say they gradually drifted away from religion, stopped believing in religious teachings, or were alienated by scandals or church positions on social issues, according to a major new Pew Research Center survey of religious beliefs and practices in Western Europe.
77% of new converts to Islam are from Christianity, whereas 19% were from non-religion. Conversely, 55% of Muslims who left Islam became non-religious, and 22% converted to Christianity.
The center of Christianity has moved to the global south.
By 2050, the number of Christians in Asia will also pass the number in Europe. Currently, Christianity is barely growing in Europe (0.04% rate) and only slightly better in North America (0.56%).
According to scholar Ladan Boroumand "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world", and according to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University “Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest”, and in 2018 "up to half a million ...
However, due to this small initial population base, immigration from Muslim majority countries has made Islam one of the fastest growing religions in the country in terms of percentage increase, with its followers growing by 110%, from 110,000 in 2010 to 230,000 at the end of 2019, out of the total population of Japan ...
Between 2015 and 2060, Muslim population is projected to increase by 70%. This compares with the 32% growth of world population during the same period. The young median age and high fertility rate of Muslims relative to other religious groups are significant factors behind Islam's population growth.
Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 … The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
More than a third of Muslims are concentrated in Africa and the Middle East, regions that are projected to have the biggest population increases. But even within these high-growth regions – as well as others – Muslims are projected to grow faster than members of other groups.
Christianity is growing in Punjab, mirroring what states like Tamil Nadu experienced in the 1980s and 1990s. Small churches are springing up on the rooftops of many villages. Amritsar/Gurdaspur: Atop a roof in an obscure gully in Fatehgarh Churian, a Pentecostal church is in full swing.
Ranking the Faithful
Saudi Arabia has edged out Israel as the country perceived as the most religious, according to data from the 2022 Best Countries rankings from U.S. News, a characterization of 85 countries based on a survey of more than 17,000 global citizens.
The most religious countries are Romania (1% non-believers) and Malta (2% non-believers). Across the EU, belief is more common with older age and is higher amongst women, those with only basic education, and those "positioning themselves on the right of the political scale (57%)".
According to the stela, unearthed in the early 1600s, Christianity came to China in A.D. 635, when a Nestorian monk named Aluoben entered the ancient capital of Chang'an -- now modern-day Xi'an -- in central China.
The number of Muslims around the world is projected to increase rapidly in the decades ahead, growing from about 1.6 billion in 2010 to nearly 2.8 billion in 2050. Muslims are expected to grow twice as fast as the overall global population.
Middle-class congregations tend to have fewer members. Pentecostalism is believed to be the fastest-growing religious movement in the world.