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How the world's religious demographics are going to be transformed by 2050
How the world's religious demographics are going to be transformed by 2050
Mike BirdApr 6, 2015, 14:28 IST
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In 50 years time, the world's religious makeup is going to see some pretty massive changes.
According to a new report by the Pew Research Center, Christianity is likely to be practised by pretty much exactly the same share of the world population, while Islam is on an upward path - and by 2050, the two religions will be pretty much equal in size.
Christian and Hinduism are expected to keep up with the pace of global population growth (so keeping roughly the same portion of the world's total), but Islam is expected to outstrip that considerably - Pew is forecasting a 73% increase in the number of Muslims around the world, against a 35% increase in the global population.
Here's how that looks:
The UK and France are two of the several countries that will no longer have a Christian majority in 35 years. By Pew's calculations, Christianity will still be the biggest single religious denomination, but Islam's share will grow, along with a much higher proportion of unaffiliated people.
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Christianity is waning a little bit in the US, but the majority of the population are still likely to be Christians in 2050. Even with the migration Pew expect, only 2.4% of the US will practice Islam in 2050.Globally, only Buddhism is expected to see a decline in the raw number of people who subscribe to the religion:
