Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Most of the world’s Muslims identify as Sunnis or Shias.8 However, many Muslims do not identify with either sect but rather see themselves as “just a Muslim.” At least one-in-five Muslims in 22 of the 38 countries where the question was asked identify themselves in this nonsectarian way.9 Other affiliations, such as membership in a […]
Christians make up the largest single religious group within the Asian-American community, but the Christian share of U.S. Asians (42%) is far smaller than the Christian share of the U.S. general public (75%). Only two of the six largest country-of-origin groups are majority Christian: Filipino Americans (89% Christian) and Korean Americans (71% Christian). Among other […]
A comprehensive demographic study finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread, and no single region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project has done extensive polling throughout the world, including in some Asian nations. The results of this research provide a window into the religious affiliation and commitment of Asians who have not emigrated and how they compare with Asians living in the U.S. In some cases, Asian Americans show […]
Washington, D.C. – The world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are united in their belief in God and the Prophet Muhammad and are bound together by such religious practices as fasting during the holy month of Ramadan and almsgiving to assist people in need. But they have widely differing views about many other aspects of their faith, […]
This report focuses on the size and geographic distribution of the world’s Christian population as of 2010. It is, in that sense, a snapshot in time. But because the true picture is not static, the Executive Summary also presents some comparisons with the world’s Christian population a century earlier. This is far enough back in […]
Finds Stability in Percentage of Christians, But Large Shift in Where They Live Washington,D.C. — WithChristmas fast approaching, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion &Public Life published a newcomprehensive demographic report on the size and distribution of theworld’s Christian population. The study finds that there are 2.18 billionChristians of all ages in more than […]
For Immediate ReleaseDecember 15, 2011 Washington, D.C. — In a noon EST conference call for journalists on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life will discuss the findings contained in its new study, Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population, which […]
According to a Pew Forum analysis of estimates from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are about 279 million pentecostal Christians and 305 million charismatic Christians in the world. (For definitions, see Defining Christian Movements.) This means that, according to this analysis, pentecostal and charismatic Christians together […]