Christianity remains largest belief system despite global diversity

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Catholics are the largest single Christian group, Christianity is the largest global belief system and there is no centre for global Christianity, are three of the major findings of a Pew Research Centre study on Religion and Public Life.

The study, released on Tuesday showed that unlike last century, the Christian population has moved from Europe to Africa, Asia and the Americas. Only about 25% of Christians now live in Europe, down from 66% in 1910.

Brazil has twice as many Catholics as Italy, while Nigeria has more than twice as many Protestants as Germany, where the Protestant Reformation began.

With 2.2b believers, Christianity remains the lagest faith group. Muslims come in second, with 1.6b adherents.

As well as being geographically disparate, the report identifies that Christianity is theologically diverse too. Catholics (50%), constitute half of those identifying as Christian, Protestants (37%) and Orthodox Christians (12%), while other Christians such as Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses make up the remaining 1%.

Countries with the largest number of Christians are the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Russia. Christians comprise nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population, and about 74 percent of Russian citizens.

About 5 percent of China’s residents, or 67 million people, are Christian, according to the study’s authors. However, accurately estimating China’s Christian population is notoriously difficult, due to the mix of government-sanctioned churches and grassroots house churches that operate illegally underground.

The study is based on demographic and opinion data from 232 countries and territories. It does not measure practice or belief, merely counting as Christian anyone who says they are.

Around 13%, or one-in-eight Christians are found in Asia and the Pacific.

Sources