The number of Christian-majority countries fell between 2010 and 2020
Countries that lost their Christian majorities all saw growing percentages of religiously unaffiliated people.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Countries that lost their Christian majorities all saw growing percentages of religiously unaffiliated people.
Buddhism is the only major religion that declined in number globally between 2010 and 2020, mostly due to religious disaffiliation in East Asia and to low birth rates.
Christians remain the largest religious group, and Muslims grew the fastest from 2010 to 2020. Read how the global share of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated changed.
About a third of Canadians (34%) have a favorable opinion of the United States today. This is down 20 percentage points since last year.
Hindus, Muslims and the unaffiliated each make up about a quarter or more of the Asia-Pacific population. These groups all grew there from 2010-2020.
Jewish people make up 0.2% of the world population. Jews rose in number by 6% from 2010 to 2020, mostly due to growth in Israel.
Belief in an afterlife, God and spirits in nature is widespread globally. Older adults are more likely than younger adults to believe in God.
Christians remain the largest religious group. But they’re shrinking as a share of the global population, as many Christians are leaving religion altogether.
The world’s population is expected to peak at 10.3 billion in 2084 and then decline to 10.2 billion through the end of the century.
Baha’is, Jains, Sikhs, Daoists and other groups that Pew Research Center classified as “other religions” combined – grew globally by 12% from 2010 to 2020.
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