There are 2.7 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly 35% of the estimated global population of 7,6 billion.
Christians are also geographically widespread, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
Today, only about a quarter of all Christians live in Europe (26%). A plurality - more than a third - now are in the Americas (37%). About one in every four Christians lives in sub-Saharan Africa (24%), and about one-in-eight is found in Asia and the Pacific (13%).
The number of Christians around the world has nearly quadrupled in the last 100 years, from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2,7 billion now. But the world's overall population also has risen rapidly. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world's population today.
This apparent stability, however, masks an another important fact. Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century. The share of the population that is Christian in sub-Saharan Africa climbed from 9% in 1910 to 63%, while in the Asia-Pacific region it rose from 3% to 7%.
Christianity today - unlike a century ago - is truly a global faith.
Christians are by far the world's largest religious group.
Almost half (48%) of all Christians live in the 10 countries with the largest number of Christians. Three of the top 10 countries are in the Americas (the United States, Brazil and Mexico). Two are in Europe (Russia and Germany), two are in the Asia-Pacific region (the Philippines and China), and three are in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia), reflecting Christianity's global reach.
China could become, in a few decades, the country where there will be more Christians, because they increase exponentially.
It is not easy to compare the number of Christians with people of other traditions, for four main reasons:
- One is not born Christian; we become through baptism, baptism of blood (martyrdom for the Name of Jesus) or baptism of desire;
- Only Christian baptisms are recorded accurately;
- Those who become Christians through baptism not only to recite a membership form for a few moments, they need to prepare for baptism for several months and sometimes two to three years.
- A Christian is always free, he incurs no human penalty if he denies his Christian faith, whereas in Islam, for example, the penalty can be the death penalty, which distorts behavior and skews the statistics.
It is even more difficult to forecast very long term on religions, eg 2050, because the future will be conditioned by the results of scientific research on their origin.
Thus, Christianity has been the subject of numerous studies for over 150 years, producing a huge bibliography. Scientific approaches to the Bible contributes to always confirm the truthfulness. Although Islam is more recent over 6 centuries, its origins are not really studied that for a decade or two. The results of this research will have a significant impact.
The future development of religions will be closely linked to demographics, but it will also depend on access to knowledge, allowing everyone to have a personal and objective point of view, by escaping the disinformation, the plot of the silence, the threats and the fear:
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" ( 2 Co 3,17)
In the Gospel, you will find the Truth (Jesus Christ).
Jesus, the "King of kings, Lord of lords" (Rev 19:16) reveals the mystery of the future:
"When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12, 32).
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28: 18-20).
