Islam growing faster than Christianity worldwide

Christianity remains the world’s largest religion but is not growing as fast as Islam, and its main home is now Sub-Saharan Africa, according to new research.

An extensive new study by Pew Research found that Islam grew at almost three times the rate of Christianity but remained in second place, just above those with no religious affiliation.

The data, compiled from over 2,700 censuses and surveys, analysed religious trends throughout the 2010s. It found that the number of Christians around the globe sat at 2.3 billion as of 2020, if all denominations are included, which sees it remain the world’s most popular religion.

Strikingly, it was found that Sub-Saharan Africa has overtaken Europe to host the greatest number of Christians, following a substantial increase which saw its share of the world’s Christians rise by almost six percent. Just over 30 percent of the world’s Christians now live in the region, with Europe coming a distant second with 22.3 percent. The large-scale change is believed to be mostly due to a general departure from the faith in recent times in western nations, as well as higher fertility rates in Africa.

On a negative note, the faith only grew by 121.6 million throughout the decade, meaning it did not keep up with worldwide population growth, which saw its share of the global population fall by almost two percent to 28.8 percent. 

Coinciding with this was Islam’s increasingly steady growth; it added 346.8 million to its number, more than all of the other religions combined, to rise to two billion worldwide and increase its share of the world’s population by the same amount that Christianity declined by, leaving it on 25.6 percent. However, it remained only just ahead of those who regard themselves as unaffiliated in third.