A new report from Pew Research Center shows that Islam grew faster than any other religion in the world between 2010 and 2020, while Christianity’s growth slowed down.
Even though Christianity is still the world’s largest religion, its share of the global population dropped. In 2010, Christians made up about 30.6 percent of the world. Now, it’s 28.8 percent.“The number of Christians did increase, but not fast enough compared to global population growth,” the report said.
Pew collected data from over 2,700 surveys and censuses in 117 countries.At the same time, the number of Muslims grew by 347 million — more than all other religious groups combined. Now, Muslims make up 25.6 percent of the world’s population.
One reason is birth rates. “Muslims have higher fertility rates, especially in the Middle East and Africa,” Pew said. Another reason is age. Muslim populations are generally younger, which means more births and fewer deaths.
Muslims, along with Hindus, are also less likely to change their religion. This is called religious switching. Christians, on the other hand, are losing followers because more people are leaving the faith.
“We are seeing many Christians becoming religiously unaffiliated, especially in Western countries,” said Pew researchers.
Christianity grew by 122 million people, reaching a total of 2.3 billion, but its global share still fell. In countries like the UK, France, and Australia, less than half the population now identifies as Christian.The biggest shift has happened in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 30.7 percent of the world’s Christians now live — more than in Europe.
Another big finding: more people now say they don’t follow any religion. These people are called nones.The number of religiously unaffiliated people rose by 270 million in 10 years. That’s 24.2 percent of the global population now — almost one in every four people.
“The growth of nones is surprising,” the Pew report said, “because they tend to be older and have fewer children. But many people — especially Christians — are leaving religion altogether.”
The United States now has the second-largest population of unaffiliated people, after China. It has even passed Japan in this category.
Buddhists were the only major group that got smaller. Their global numbers fell by 19 million, making up just 4.1 percent of the world’s people now.
Religion still plays an important role in many people’s lives. Pew says about 76 percent of the world’s people still identify with some religion. But the number is slowly going down.
“Demographic factors like birth rate, death rate, and age explain why some religions grow faster,” the report explained.
