How fast is christianity growing

But even within these high-growth regions — as well as others — Muslims are projected to grow faster than members of other groups. For example, Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, on average, are younger and have higher fertility than the overall population of the region. In fact, Muslims are expected to grow as a percentage of every region except Latin America and the Caribbean, where relatively few Muslims live.

The same dynamics hold true in many countries where Muslims live in large numbers alongside other religious groups. Meanwhile, religious switching — which is expected to hinder the growth of Christians by an estimated 72 million between and — is not expected to have a negative net impact on Muslim population growth. A new estimate of the U. Muslim population. In times of uncertainty, good decisions demand good data. Please support our research with a financial contribution.

It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions. Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. In North America, Europe and the Latin America-Caribbean region, Christians are projected to experience net losses because of religious switching, with most of the switching toward no religious affiliation.

Consequently, population projections with and without religious switching can differ dramatically. Data for religious switching are unavailable for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as the Asia-Pacific and Middle East-North Africa regions; as a result, population projections with and without religious switching are similar in these regions.

More than 5 million Christians are expected to move from one region to another between and Many of them are forecast to move to North America, including more than 2 million from the Latin America-Caribbean region and about , from the Asia-Pacific region.

These migration patterns are projected to continue in the decades ahead. See the Methodology for more information on how migration flows were estimated. The impact of migration on Christian populations can be seen by comparing results from the main projection scenario, which includes expected migration patterns, with an alternative scenario that does not attempt to take migration into account.

Migration — particularly by members of non-Christian faiths — will have a more noticeable impact in Europe. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Regional Change Christianity has spread far from its historical origins and is geographically widespread.

Change in Countries With Largest Christian Populations Christians are expected to keep pace with global population growth largely due to their expected growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Age Structure Globally, Christians were only slightly older median age of 30 than the overall population median age of 28 in Religious Switching In the main projection scenario described in this report, religious switching is factored into population projections for all 70 countries for which sufficient data on recent switching patterns are available.

Migration More than 5 million Christians are expected to move from one region to another between and Christian history has seen rapid movements happen when many thousands, or millions of people in a region became Christ Followers.

We are living in a season of the greatest church growth since the 1st century! But half of the world is missing the move of God. How is it possible that the Global South Church is seeing Christian history being made while the Global North church is struggling for answers?

God alone provides the increase, but why there and not here? Two researchers and Disciple Making practitioners have spent five years identifying several biblical values that Jesus modeled or mandated in his disciples, and which are embraced in the Global South but not in the Global North church.

The Kingdom Unleashed was the result of that research. In Africa, it is not unusual for churches to commit days per year for fasting and prayer. In American churches, seasons of fasting and prayer are not the norm, and if there are prayer meetings, there may be few participants. Some studies suggest that we do not spend much time in private prayer either. It is easy for us to rely on our many resources rather than on God.

And in the process, we lose the privilege of depending on God every day. In the Global South, people often have no choice but to rely on God to meet their needs — they lack the resources to do otherwise. Their acute awareness of their need drives them to pray not just for their physical needs but for guidance and direction, spiritual power and breakthroughs, healings, deliverances, and identifying people to disciple. American Evangelicals tend to think about Christianity in terms of conversion, forgiveness of sins and Eternal Life.

In the Global South, they focus far less on conversion than on disciple making. That is the model used in the Global South. Even the idea of what it means to be a disciple is different. For us, discipleship is knowledge-based. But in the Great Commission, Jesus tells us to make disciples not converts and teach them to obey everything he commanded.