2 days ago
Islam increases its share of the global population as the world's fastest-growing religion and Christianity slips, study shows
Islam is growing faster than any other religion in the world, according to a new study.
Muslims now make up 25.6 per cent of the global population, while Christians make up 28.8 per cent, the report - which was released by the Pew Research Center on Monday - says.
But the growth of Christianity has not kept up with the global population increase, with the religion's worldwide share slipping by 1.8 per cent.
This fall-off is largely driven by disaffiliation, as well as aging populations and lower fertility rates.
The Muslim population's share, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 per cent.
Researchers said reasons for this growth was likely due to Islam's younger population and higher birthrates in some areas.
Commenting on the trend, lead author of the Pew report, Conrad Hackett, said: 'It's just striking that there was such dramatic change in a 10-year period.
'During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other religion.'
In addition, the study found that the largest share of Christians, which is about 31 per cent, can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, as opposed to Europe which has historically been home to the largest number of Christians in the world.
At the same time, large numbers of former Christians are now falling into the unaffiliated category, which includes atheists, agnostics and people who simply don't identify with any religion.
This is now the third largest religious category globally at 24.2 per cent, which shows a rise from 16 per cent a decade ago.
'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave', Hackett said.
The study also found the number of Buddhists to have plunged, dropping to 4.1 per cent. Pew cites a low birth rate and rising disaffiliation in East Asia.
Hinduism remained steady at 1.49 per cent, while Judaism, making up just 0.2 per cent of the global population, also fell behind the global growth rate.
The study looked at more than 2.700 censuses and survey across 201 countries and territories, covering nearly the entire global population.
