Christianity is still largest religion in the world despite shift away from Europe

  • Only one-quarter of world’s population remain in Europe as followers spread across Asia, Africa and Americas
  • Two-thirds of the flock were in Europe 100 years ago

By
Nadia Gilani

Last updated at 8:38 AM on 22nd December 2011

Christians remain the largest religious group in the world despite their population migrating from Europe to Africa, Asia and the Americas according to a new study.

Around one-quarter of the world’s Christian’s live in Europe today compared to two-thirds a century ago according to a study compiled by the Pew Research Forum on Religion Public Life based in Washington DC.

The research showed that Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the biggest increase in its Christian population over the past century, going from about nine million Christians in 1910 to about 516 million today.

Christianity remains the world's most dominant religion despite only one-quarter living in Europe. Picture: The Vatican in Rome

Christianity remains the world’s most dominant religion despite only one-quarter living in Europe. Picture: The Vatican in Rome

Countries with the largest number of Christians are the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

The study’s author’s said Brazil has twice as many Roman Catholics as Italy, while Nigeria has double the number of Protestants as Germany, where the Protestant Reformation began, author’s of the study said.

However, even despite the movement of the Christian population to different parts of the globe it is still the world’s dominant religion with nearly 2.2billion followers.

Islam is the world’s second-largest religion with about 1.6 billion people or slightly less than a quarter of the global population following the faith.

Christians attend a service in Terreiros Square, Brazil which is home to one of the world's largest populations of the faith

Christians attend a service in Terreiros Square, Brazil which is home to one of the world’s largest populations of the faith

The Global Christianity report was
compiled using national censuses, population surveys and estimates from
church groups of numbers attending services.

The
data was compared to surveys taken in 1910 including data from the
Centre for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

Europe may have been the mainland for
Christians a century ago but researchers said that the population is now
so widely spread across the world that no specific region can be described as the centre of the faith.

This has been a concern for Church
leaders for many years who have  been tasked with trying to build stronger ties with
fellow believers across the geographical boundaries and reconcile
differing interpretations of the Bible.

Young boys take part in a Christmas Eve service at a Catholic church in Beijing

Young boys take part in a Christmas Eve service at a Catholic church in Beijing

Conrad Hackett, Demographer at the Pew Forum and lead researcher for the Global Christianity report, told The Christian Post: ‘We set out to provide data on the number of Christians around the world as part of a series of reports focusing on the global populations of major religious groups.

‘As we note in the report, there is no single region or continent that is indisputably the centre of global Christianity anymore’.

The smallest concentration of Christians can be found in North Africa – where the faith began – and where they make up only about four per cent of the population today.

Egypt has the largest Christian population in the region, with about 4.3 million Christians who have been victims of violence specifically since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

About five per cent of China’s population or 67 million people are Christian, according to the study’s authors.

It is difficult to be accurate, however when estimating China’s Christian population due to the mixture of government-sanctioned churches and grassroots operating illegally across the country.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

when are modern people going to realise religion was introduced by governing bodies as an early form of tax and mind control, its barbaric to worship anything that has caused so many wars, pain suffering and false hope.
Humans should stop hiding behind all religions,
we are all just biological masses clinging to a rock flying through space,

“The smallest concentration of Christians can be found in North Africa – where the faith began … ”
Seriously? I don’t think the Christian faith began in North Africa. Bethlehem is in the Middle East.

The sooner religion moves away for good the better.

Before someone mentions Britain, christians still out number muslims 20-1. Multi-religious societies are good.

Humanity would be better off without any religion.

I’d be interested to see the correlation between education and religion included in this study.

the great lie.

Christianity is the Largest Religion in the World with Islam being a bit short, but remember Islam is the Fastest growing Religion.

…and there is not a single believing Christian among the Church of England’s hierarchy. They are all atheists, which is why the Church of England is desperately covering this up with false debates about “women priests” and “women bishops” and so on and so forth: to cover up the complete lack of belief in their own ranks.

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