Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
In his commanding win in the Florida Republican primary, Mitt Romney received strong support from Catholics and from voters who do not describe themselves as white born-again/evangelical Christians. Among both white evangelicals and Protestant voters, Romney ran about even with Newt Gingrich.
White evangelical Protestants have long been a key part of the GOP coalition. In 2008, 65% of white evangelical Protestant voters identified as Republicans or said they leaned toward the Republican Party, while 28% expressed support for the Democratic Party. By 2010, support for the GOP had increased to 69% among evangelical voters while support […]
Many state prisons make extensive use of volunteers from houses of worship or other religious organizations to help meet the spiritual needs of inmates. A majority of chaplains say that more volunteers are needed, particularly for inmates who belong to minority faiths such as Islam, Wicca and Native American spirituality. About a third of the […]
Romney’s win included overwhelming support from Mormons and strong support from Catholic voters. He also won among white born-again/evangelical Protestants, though his support from that group continues to be somewhat more tepid than among non-evangelicals.
This report divides the world into five regions to take a closer look at the geographic distribution of Christians. (To view all the countries in each region, see the Interactive Maps.) The five regions are presented in descending order of Christian population, with the region with the highest number of Christians (the Americas) appearing first […]
In his South Carolina Republican primary win, Newt Gingrich received strong support from born-again/evangelical Christians and from voters who said that it is important to them that a candidate shares their religious beliefs.
About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic (50%), while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world’s Christians. Other Christian groups, which make up the remaining 1%, include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Christian Science Church. (See Defining Christian Traditions.) […]
GOP gains are seen among both younger and older voters. Among the population as a whole, roughly half of voters under age 30 (52%) express support for the Democrats. This is a significant decline from 2008 when fully 60% of this group identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party. The Democrats’ 28-point advantage among […]
Download the Methodology as a PDF (180 KB, 17pages) This study provides comprehensive demographic estimates of the size and distribution of eight major religious groups in the 232 countries and territories for which the United Nations Population Division provides general population estimates as of 2010.16 It includes estimates for Christians, Muslims, the religiously unaffiliated, Hindus, […]