(ZENIT News / Rome, 06.20.2025).- A decade’s worth of data has illuminated a striking transformation in the global religious map. According to the latest Global Religious Landscape report released by the Pew Research Center on June 9, Islam remains the world’s fastest-growing religion, while the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated—commonly referred to as «nones»—are also rising at an unprecedented pace. Meanwhile, Christianity, though still the largest faith group globally, has seen a relative decline in its share of the world population.
The report, the second of its kind since Pew’s 2010 global religion survey, provides a comprehensive demographic snapshot based on over 2,700 data sources from 201 countries. It examines fertility rates, mortality, migration, age distribution, and conversion patterns to understand how religious groups have grown—or shrunk—between 2010 and 2020.
At the heart of the findings is the Muslim population’s explosive growth. In just ten years, the global Muslim population increased by 347 million people—more than all other religious groups combined. This surge is primarily attributed to high birth rates and a younger median age in predominantly Muslim regions such as the Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia-Pacific alone, which houses the largest number of Muslims, the Muslim population grew by more than 16 percent during the period.
By contrast, Christianity’s global footprint, while still formidable—encompassing 29 percent of the world’s population—saw its relative share decline by nearly two percentage points. This erosion is most evident in traditionally Christian strongholds like Europe, North America, and Oceania. In the United States, for example, the Christian population dropped from 78.3 percent in 2010 to 64 percent in 2020. In France, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Australia, Christians now make up less than half of the total population.
According to Conrad Hackett, Pew’s senior demographer, these shifts are not simply a matter of birth and death rates. “The real game-changer has been religious switching, particularly in the West,” Hackett noted. For every person raised without religion who later joins a faith, approximately 3.2 people raised in a religion—usually Christianity—disaffiliate as adults.
This pattern has propelled the unaffiliated into the third-largest religious category globally, now comprising 24 percent of the world’s population. The phenomenon is especially pronounced in the Asia-Pacific region, home to more than three-quarters of the global unaffiliated population. China alone accounts for 67 percent of this demographic. However, capturing the religious complexity of China remains a challenge, as state regulations and cultural nuances often mask underlying spiritual practices.
Interestingly, the unaffiliated are growing not because of high fertility rates—they tend to have fewer children than other groups—but because of conversions. In Europe, North America, and Australasia, more and more adults raised as Christians now report no religious affiliation at all.
The report also highlights smaller, yet meaningful shifts in other religious communities. The global Hindu population, representing 14.9 percent of the total, experienced substantial regional growth—especially in the Middle East and North America, driven largely by migration. Meanwhile, the world’s Jewish population grew modestly by six percent over the decade, maintaining a relatively stable share of 0.2 percent of the global population. Nearly half of the world’s Jews now live in Israel, the highest concentration in any single country.
Buddhism, however, was the only major religious group to see an absolute decline in numbers—falling by 19 million. The decrease is linked not only to low fertility and aging populations in East Asia but also to increasing religious disaffiliation in countries like Japan and China. Still, Pew cautions that these figures may underrepresent the true scope of Buddhist identity, as many who practice Buddhist rituals do not formally identify as Buddhist.
Migration emerged as another major force reshaping religious demography. In Gulf nations like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE—home to some of the world’s highest proportions of foreign-born residents—Hindu and Christian populations have grown substantially due to labor migration.
Despite these demographic upheavals, Christianity remains the most geographically widespread religion, and its stronghold in sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow. One in three Christians worldwide now lives in that region, thanks to high fertility and a youthful population.
The Global Religious Landscape report is part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, a long-term initiative supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation. It aims to offer rigorous, data-driven insights into the evolving nature of religious belief and affiliation worldwide.
As the planet’s population grows and moves, and as spiritual loyalties shift in response to cultural, political, and personal currents, the contours of faith continue to be redrawn. The global map of religion, once relatively fixed, is now fluid—and its future more unpredictable than ever.
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