Global Christianity
A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population
The number of Christians around the world has more than tripled in the last 100 years, from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion in 2010.
But the world's overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010.
As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world's population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).
This apparent stability, however, masks a momentous shift.
Although Europe and the Americas still are home to a majority of the world's Christians (63%), that share is much lower than it was in 1910 (93%).
And the proportion of Europeans and Americans who are Christian has dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in 2010 in Europe as a whole, and from 96% to 86% in the Americas as a whole.
At the same time, Christianity has grown enormously in subSaharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century.
These are some of the key findings of Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population, a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Read the full report for more details on these subjects:
Countries in which Christians live as majorities and minorities
A breakdown of the different Christian traditions and where their biggest populations live
Regional distribution of Christians
Christian movements and denominations
