Latest news with #ConradHackett
Vancouver Sun
11-06-2025
- General
- Vancouver Sun
Islam growing, Christianity slipping as share of world population, survey finds
While Christians remained the world's largest religious group at the end of the decade that ended in 2020, Christianity's growth did not keep up with global population increase. But Islam – the world's fastest-growing major religion – increased its share of the world population, as did the religiously unaffiliated, the Pew Research Center found in a report released Monday. Even as the overall number of Christians – counted as one group, across denominations – continued to climb to 2.3 billion, the religion's share of the world's population decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8 per cent, a falloff driven in large part by disaffiliation. The Muslim population, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 percentage points to 25.6 per cent, according to the report, which examined changes in religious demographics through an analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'It's just striking that there was such dramatic change in a 10-year period,' said Pew's Conrad Hackett, the lead author of the report. 'During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other major religion.' The report attributed the growth in Islam to a younger Muslim population – with an average age of about 24, as opposed to a global average age among non-Muslims of about 33 as of 2020 – along with higher fertility rates in some areas and lower rates of disaffiliation as compared with other religions, including Christianity. 'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave,' Hackett said. The largest share of Christians – about 31 per cent – can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study. Previously, Europe was home to the largest number of Christians in the world. 'And that's the result of high fertility, youthfulness and rapid growth in general of sub-Saharan Africa,' Hackett said, 'as well as the aging, lower fertility and disaffiliation going on in Europe.' Religion switching – seen in high numbers among Christians – contributed to the global rise of unaffiliated people, the report found. Nearly a quarter of the world's population did not identify with a religion in 2020 (24.2 per cent), as opposed to 23.3 per cent in 2010. Researchers previously predicted the unaffiliated population would shrink because of older age and fewer people having children, Hackett said. However, people leaving religion, and especially departing Christianity, has led to the increase of the population, Hackett said. The world's biggest unaffiliated population is estimated to be in China: 1.3 billion people, out of 1.4 billion, followed by the United States, with 101 million disaffiliated out of 331.5 million, and Japan, with 73 million out of 126.3 million. In China, it is common for people to have religious beliefs, but only 10 per cent of the population formally identify with a particular denomination or religion, the Pew Research Center reported in 2023. In a similar way, the new report measures the self-described affiliations of people around the world and may not capture the nuances and fullness of complex and evolving identities. Many people hold religious or spiritual beliefs or attend worship services but eschew formal labels. Another group that underwent significant a loss in population were Buddhists, the only religion that had fewer members in 2020 (324 million) than in 2010 (343 million); this was due to disaffiliation and a low birth rate. Those who identified as Hindu and Jewish maintained rates steady with the world's population, the report found. 'Sometimes we hear rumors of religious revival, and it's certainly possible that in particular places religion could grow,' Hackett said. 'But in this careful 10-year study that we've done, the broad trend is that in many places people are moving away from religion.' Based on patterns of religion switching and differences in age and fertility, Hackett estimated that the 'movement towards convergence' between Christians and Muslims will continue, with Islam set to grow to become the world's largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift. 'The next step of our ongoing work in this project will be to do some demographic population projections to provide new estimates of sort of exactly when they might converge,' Hackett said. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
National Post
11-06-2025
- General
- National Post
Islam growing, Christianity slipping as share of world population, survey finds
While Christians remained the world's largest religious group at the end of the decade that ended in 2020, Christianity's growth did not keep up with global population increase. But Islam – the world's fastest-growing major religion – increased its share of the world population, as did the religiously unaffiliated, the Pew Research Center found in a report released Monday. Article content Article content Even as the overall number of Christians – counted as one group, across denominations – continued to climb to 2.3 billion, the religion's share of the world's population decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8 per cent, a falloff driven in large part by disaffiliation. The Muslim population, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 percentage points to 25.6 per cent, according to the report, which examined changes in religious demographics through an analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. Article content Article content Article content 'It's just striking that there was such dramatic change in a 10-year period,' said Pew's Conrad Hackett, the lead author of the report. 'During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other major religion.' Article content The report attributed the growth in Islam to a younger Muslim population – with an average age of about 24, as opposed to a global average age among non-Muslims of about 33 as of 2020 – along with higher fertility rates in some areas and lower rates of disaffiliation as compared with other religions, including Christianity. Article content Article content 'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave,' Hackett said. Article content Article content The largest share of Christians – about 31 per cent – can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study. Previously, Europe was home to the largest number of Christians in the world. Article content 'And that's the result of high fertility, youthfulness and rapid growth in general of sub-Saharan Africa,' Hackett said, 'as well as the aging, lower fertility and disaffiliation going on in Europe.' Article content Religion switching – seen in high numbers among Christians – contributed to the global rise of unaffiliated people, the report found. Nearly a quarter of the world's population did not identify with a religion in 2020 (24.2 per cent), as opposed to 23.3 per cent in 2010. Article content Researchers previously predicted the unaffiliated population would shrink because of older age and fewer people having children, Hackett said. However, people leaving religion, and especially departing Christianity, has led to the increase of the population, Hackett said.
Edmonton Journal
11-06-2025
- General
- Edmonton Journal
Islam growing, Christianity slipping as share of world population, survey finds
Article content While Christians remained the world's largest religious group at the end of the decade that ended in 2020, Christianity's growth did not keep up with global population increase. But Islam – the world's fastest-growing major religion – increased its share of the world population, as did the religiously unaffiliated, the Pew Research Center found in a report released Monday. Article content Even as the overall number of Christians – counted as one group, across denominations – continued to climb to 2.3 billion, the religion's share of the world's population decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8 per cent, a falloff driven in large part by disaffiliation. The Muslim population, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 percentage points to 25.6 per cent, according to the report, which examined changes in religious demographics through an analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. 'It's just striking that there was such dramatic change in a 10-year period,' said Pew's Conrad Hackett, the lead author of the report. 'During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other major religion.' The report attributed the growth in Islam to a younger Muslim population – with an average age of about 24, as opposed to a global average age among non-Muslims of about 33 as of 2020 – along with higher fertility rates in some areas and lower rates of disaffiliation as compared with other religions, including Christianity. Article content 'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave,' Hackett said. The largest share of Christians – about 31 per cent – can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study. Previously, Europe was home to the largest number of Christians in the world. 'And that's the result of high fertility, youthfulness and rapid growth in general of sub-Saharan Africa,' Hackett said, 'as well as the aging, lower fertility and disaffiliation going on in Europe.' Religion switching – seen in high numbers among Christians – contributed to the global rise of unaffiliated people, the report found. Nearly a quarter of the world's population did not identify with a religion in 2020 (24.2 per cent), as opposed to 23.3 per cent in 2010. Researchers previously predicted the unaffiliated population would shrink because of older age and fewer people having children, Hackett said. However, people leaving religion, and especially departing Christianity, has led to the increase of the population, Hackett said. Article content The world's biggest unaffiliated population is estimated to be in China: 1.3 billion people, out of 1.4 billion, followed by the United States, with 101 million disaffiliated out of 331.5 million, and Japan, with 73 million out of 126.3 million. In China, it is common for people to have religious beliefs, but only 10 per cent of the population formally identify with a particular denomination or religion, the Pew Research Center reported in 2023. In a similar way, the new report measures the self-described affiliations of people around the world and may not capture the nuances and fullness of complex and evolving identities. Many people hold religious or spiritual beliefs or attend worship services but eschew formal labels. Another group that underwent significant a loss in population were Buddhists, the only religion that had fewer members in 2020 (324 million) than in 2010 (343 million); this was due to disaffiliation and a low birth rate. Those who identified as Hindu and Jewish maintained rates steady with the world's population, the report found. Latest National Stories
News18
11-06-2025
- General
- News18
Islam Fastest-Growing Religion In World: 6 Key Takeaways From New Pew Study
Last Updated: Islam is fastest-growing religion in world, with their population increasing by 347 million between 2010 and 2020, new Pew study revealed. It has listed data on other faiths also. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and the world's Muslim population grew by 347 million over the last 10 years, while Hindus are the fourth largest group with 14.9% of the global population, according to a new Pew Research Center study. Pew's Global Religious Landscape study, released on June 9, measured the evolution of the global religious population between 2010 and 2020. The new study reveals how population growth influenced the global religious landscape. This year's edition is the second report of religious groups, which was started in 2010. Conrad Hackett, a senior demographer at Pew Research Center, said that Muslims are having children at a greater rate than people in the community are dying. 'Very little of the change in Muslim population size is a result of people becoming Muslim as adults or leaving Islam as adults," he said. Muslims are primarily concentrated in regions witnessing high population growth, such as the Middle East-North Africa region. They represent 94.2% of the population in this region, whereas they are 33% in sub-Saharan Africa. Their number grew in large numbers in the Asia Pacific region, where their percentage increased by 16.2% between 2010 and 2020. Christianity Grows But Declines Overall In World Population: The survey showed that Christianity grew by 122 million people during that period; however, it declined as an overall slice of the global population. Despite the dip, Christianity remains the world's largest religion, with 2.3 billion people following the religion, which constitutes 29% of the world's population. Christianity declined by 1.8%, primarily due to growth among the non-Christian population. The decline was witnessed in Europe, North America, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand, the survey showed. It remains the majority faith in the world, except for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East-North Africa regions. Religiously Unaffiliated People: After Islam and Christianity, the third largest number of people in the world are those unaffiliated with any religion, with 24.2% of the world's population following this trend, according to the survey. Those people who left religion have severely impacted the proportion of the world's Christian population. Buddhists Impacted By Religious Unaffiliation: Buddhists are another group affected by people moving away from religion in East Asia. Between 2010 and 2020, more people left Buddhism than joined it. It was the only religion in the region that had fewer followers in 2020 than in 2010, with a drop of 19 million people, according to the study. However, the study also says that these numbers may not show the full picture. That's because many people who follow Buddhist traditions or practices may not officially identify as Buddhist. Hindu Population Fourth Largest In World: According to the study, Hindus represent 14.9% of the world's population and are the fourth largest group in the world. The majority of Hindus reside in India (95%), and their number increased between 2010 and 2020 by 62% in the Middle East-North Africa region, primarily because of migration. In North America, the population of Hindus grew by 55%.
Time of India
10-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Religion in flux: Islam surges, Christianity shrinks; Hinduism holds steady
Between 2010 and 2020, the world's population expanded-and so did nearly every major religious group-according to an analysis of over 2,700 censuses and surveys, a Pew Research Center report said. Christians remained the largest religious group, rising from 2.18 billion to 2.30 billion (+122 million), but their share of the global population shrank from roughly 30.6% to 28.8% (‑1.8 points). Muslims, meanwhile, surged ahead: adding 347 million adherents-the fastest increase among all groups-pushing their total to approximately 2 billion and boosting their global share by 1.8 points to 25.6%, the Pew report said. Other faith categories saw varied trends: the religiously unaffiliated grew to comprise 24.2% of the world's population (up from 23.3%), while Hinduism and Judaism held steady relative to global population growth. Buddhists were the only major religious group that had fewer people in 2020 than a decade earlier. Pew Research Center report on religion Why it matters: Shrinking Christian share, expanding Muslim & 'Nones' sizes Christianity's slowing share reflects not demographic stagnation, but religious switching. As Conrad Hackett, the lead author of the report, explains: 'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave.' Despite Christians having a demographic edge via fertility, disaffiliation reversed that advantage. Conversely, the surge in the religiously unaffiliated reflects the same switching pattern: many individuals raised Christian have transitioned into non-affiliation, compensating for the group's demographic disadvantage-its older population and lower fertility. As of 2020, Christians were a majority in 120 countries and territories, down from 124 a decade earlier. Christians dropped below 50% of the population in the United Kingdom (49%), Australia (47%), France (46%) and Uruguay (44%). Pew Research Center report on religion Why these changes? Demographics vs switching Islam's growth is fueled primarily by demographics: a youthful age-structure (average Muslim age 24 vs non-Muslim 33), higher fertility rates, and comparatively low levels of religious switching. Demographic drivers Pew outlines critical demographic influences shaping religious group sizes. Age structure: Younger populations naturally grow faster due to more people in childbearing years. Fertility rates: Higher birth rates lead to larger natural population increase. Mortality rates also play a role, though less emphasized. Muslims benefit from both a youthful demographic and high fertility; Hindus hover near the global fertility average; Jews lag due to older age profiles. Buddhists, meanwhile, are shrinking from both demographic disadvantages and religious switching. Religious Switching Switching-either toward or away from religion-has been a game-changer. Christians experienced notable losses due to large numbers disaffiliating. The unaffiliated gained primarily through former Christians leaving religion-a shift powerful enough to overcome biological disadvantages. Conversion rates are low or negligible for Hindus and Jews, so these groups held steady; Buddhists declined partly due to people de-identifying . Between the lines: Regional shifts Sub-Saharan Christianity A dramatic geographic shift: sub‑Saharan Africa now hosts around 31% of the world's Christians-up from 24.8% in 2010-while Europe's share has declined sharply. The region's high fertility and youth boost Christian numbers, even as disaffiliation wanes in Europe. In one notable exception, Mozambique saw its Christian proportion rise by 5 percentage points. Rise of unaffiliated in China, US, Japan The unaffiliated are most numerous in China (1.3 billion of 1.4 billion), followed by the US (101 million of 331 million) and Japan (73 million of 126 million). Despite many holding personal religious beliefs, only about 10% of Chinese residents formally identify with a specific denomination. Buddhism's decline Buddhists were the only major religious group to shrink in absolute numbers-down from 343 million to 324 million-due to low fertility and defections. Stable Judaism & Hinduism As per the Pew report, Hindu and Jewish populations roughly tracked global population changes. Hindus grew in absolute terms by about 126 million to 1.2 billion, maintaining a stable global share of 14.9%. Jews increased from roughly 13.8 million in 2010 to 14.8 million in 2020-just 0.2% of the world population. The combined 'other religions' category (eg, Baha'is, Jains, folk traditions) also mirrored global population growth, holding steady at 2.2%. What's next Shifting global balance Christianity's dominance remains absolute, but its share is eroding due to disaffiliation. Islam continues steady growth and is projected to approach parity with Christianity by mid-21st century. The unaffiliated segment, though biologically disadvantaged, is rising due to cultural shifts and deconversion trends. Cultural and political impact The rise of secularization, particularly in developed nations, may reshape societal norms and policymaking. Conversely, religiosity in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia could mean continued importance of religious identity in daily life and governance.
