A new global religious study has revealed that the demographic center of religions in the world is changing rapidly and this change is faster than previously estimated. According to the report, due to population growth, large youth population and population growth in Africa and Asia, Islam is growing almost twice as fast as Christianity worldwide. However, despite this rapid growth, it is estimated that Christianity will remain the world’s largest religion by the middle of this century. This study is based on the Status of Global Christianity 2026 report published by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Massachusetts.

The study includes United Nations data, population surveys and research from several Christian organizations and educational institutions. In this study, an estimated description of the religious structure of the world by 2075 has been presented. The report shows that the world’s Muslim population has now exceeded two billion and if this trend continues, it may reach approximately 3.4 billion by 2075. The growth rate of Islam is said to be about 1.57 percent annually, which is much higher than the 0.95 percent growth rate of Christianity. Despite this, the Christian population is likely to remain the largest in future also. According to the study, by 2075 there will be about 2.67 billion Christians in the world, while the number of Muslims may reach about 2.1 billion.

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Center changing Christianity

The report also shows that Christianity is not dying out, but its center is changing. While many parts of Europe are seeing a decline in churches and Christian populations, Christianity is growing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia, and Latin America. A century ago, the main center of Christianity was Europe, but today the situation has changed and now a large part of the Christian population is found in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Christianity is declining in the Middle East

The report also states that its numbers are declining in historically Christian dominated areas. In Europe, a decrease of about 0.4 percent is being recorded every year. The decline is even more severe in the Middle East, where Christianity has its historical roots. In 1900, the share of Christians in the population of the Middle East was 12.7 percent, which has now come down to only 4.2 percent. The reasons cited behind this are war, migration, discrimination, economic crisis, Islamic extremism and continuous instability, due to which many old Christian communities have weakened.

Statistics related to Hindu population

Hindu is the fourth largest religion after Christians, Muslims and people of other religions. At present, 99% of the world’s Hindu population lives in the Asia-Pacific region, out of which about 95% of Hindus live in India. Hindus are the largest religious group in India, Nepal and Mauritius. However, according to a report by Pew Research, there will be a decline in population from the year 2055 to 2060. However, there is no data available regarding population in 2075. Earlier, from 2010 to 2020, the number of Hindus worldwide had increased by 12 percent.

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Pew Research Center Report, based in Washington, America, has said in a new study that the religious structure of the world has been changing rapidly in the last decade. Between 2010 and 2020, there was a huge increase in the global population and the number of almost all major religions increased, but among all this, the growth of the Muslim population was the fastest, while the share of Christianity has gradually declined.

According to Pew Research Center Report, there were about 2.18 billion Christians in the world in 2010, which increased to 2.30 billion in 2020. Despite the increase in numbers, the proportion of Christians in the world population decreased from 30.6% to 28.8%. The study also found that the birth rate in Christianity remained the same, but a large number of people were leaving the religion. According to the author of the report, Conrad Hackett, for every new Christian, three people distance themselves from Christianity. This nature is affecting the population of Christian society.

Rapid expansion in population of Islam

Between 2010 and 2020, the population of Islam has increased by approximately 34.7 crores. Now the number of Muslims in the world has exceeded 2 billion. Their share increased from 23.8% to 25.6%. There are many reasons for this increase, like the rate of conversion here is very low, due to which the natural increase is happening rapidly. Experts estimate that in the coming decades the Christian and Muslim populations may be almost equal.

Hinduism and Judaism stable population

The report shows that the population of Hindu religion increased by about 126 million and its total has reached 1.2 billion. Yet globally its share remains stable at around 14.9%. A slight increase was also recorded in Judaism, it was 1.38 crore in 2010, which increased to 1.48 crore in 2020. This is still only 0.2% of the world’s population. There is very little conversion in both the religions, due to which their position remained stable.

Decline in Buddhism and rise of non-religious

The population of Buddhism was 34.3 crore in 2010, which decreased to 32.4 crore in 2020. Low birth rate and conversion were the main reasons for its decline. On the other hand, the number of unaffiliated or non-religious people has increased. This category includes atheists, agnostics and those who do not want to join any religion. Their share was 23.3% in 2010, which increased to 24.2% in 2020. This has happened because of people leaving religion from Christian society. The largest number of unaffiliated people are found in China, America and Japan.

Growing religiosity in Africa and Asia

The report states that now about 31% of the world’s Christians live in Sub-Saharan Africa, whereas in 2010 this figure was 24.8%. The high birth rate and young population here are the main reasons for this. On the contrary, the influence of Christianity is declining in Europe. In African countries like Mozambique, an increase of about 5% has been recorded in the Christian population. Pew Research Center report states that by the middle of the 21st century, Christians and Muslims together will lead almost half of the world’s population. Secularism and disaffiliation will increase in developed countries, while religious identity and faith will become stronger in Africa and Asia.

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