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Christian population growth

Christian population growth is the population growth of the global Christian community. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were more than 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, more than three times as many as the 600 million recorded in 1910. However, this rate of growth is slower than the overall population growth over the same time period.[1] In 2020, Pew estimated the number of Christians worldwide to be around 2.38 billion.[2] According to various scholars and sources, high birth rates and conversions in the Global South were cited as the reasons for the Christian population growth.[3][4][5][6][7][8] In 2023, it was reported: "There will be over 2.6 billion Christians worldwide by the middle of 2023 and around 3.3 billion by 2050, according to a report published in early January by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary."[9][10]

Summary edit

Demographics of major traditions within Christianity (Pew Research Center, 2010 data)[11]
Tradition Followers % of the Christian population % of the world population Follower dynamics Dynamics in- and outside Christianity
Catholic Church 1,094,610,000 50.1 15.9   Growing   Stable
Protestantism 800,640,000 36.7 11.6   Growing   Growing
Orthodoxy 260,380,000 11.9 3.8   Shrinking   Shrinking
Other denominations 28,430,000 1.3 0.4   Growing   Growing
Christianity 2,184,060,000 100 31.7   Stable   Stable
Regional median ages of Christians compared with overall median ages (Pew Research Center, 2010 data)[12]
Christian median age in region (years) Regional median age (years)
World 30
Sub-Saharan Africa 19 18
Latin America-Caribbean 27 27
Asia-Pacific 28 29
Middle East-North Africa 29 24
North America 39 37
Europe 42 40

The Christian fertility rate is 2.7 children per woman, which is higher than the global average fertility rate of 2.5. Globally, Christians were only slightly older (median age of 30) than the global average median age of 28 in 2010. According to Pew Research religious switching is projected to have a modest impact on changes in the Christian population.[13] According to various scholars and sources, Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing religious movement in the world;[14][15][16][17][18] this growth is primarily due to religious conversion to Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.[19][20]

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, approximately 2.7 million converting to Christianity from another religion, World Christian Encyclopedia also cited that Christianity rank at first place in net gains through religious conversion.[21] While according to "The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion", approximately 15.5 million converting to Christianity from another religion, while approximately 11.7 million leave Christianity, and most of them become irreligious, resulting in a net gain of 3.8 million.[22] Christianity earns about 65.1 million people due to factors such as birth rate and religious conversion while losing 27.4 million people due to factors such as death rate and religious apostasy. Most of the net growth in the numbers of Christians are in Africa, Latin America and Asia.[22]

Fertility rate edit

The Christian fertility rate has varied throughout history, as with other fertility figures. The Christian fertility rate also varies from country to country. In the 20-year period from 1989 to 2009, the average world fertility rate decreased from 3.50 to 2.58, a fall of 0.92 children per woman, or 26%. The weighted average fertility rate for Christian nations decreased in the same period from 3.26 to 2.58, a fall of 0.68 children per woman, or 21%. The weighted average fertility rate for Muslim nations decreased in the same period from 5.17 to 3.23, a fall of 1.94 children per woman, or 38%. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman.[23]

The gap in fertility between the Christian- and Muslim-dominated nations fell from 67% in 1990 to 17% in 2010. According to a study published by the Pew Research Center in 2017, births to Muslims between the years of 2010 and 2015 made up an estimated 31% of all babies born around the world. By the Pew Research Center's estimates, the Muslim fertility rate and Christian fertility rate will converge by 2040.[24]

Country Fertility rate
(2019)
(births/woman)[25]
Percent Christian
  Ecuador 2.40 94%
  East Timor 3.94 99%
  Armenia 1.76 98.6%
  Equatorial Guinea 4.43 92%
  Moldova 1.27 95.3%
  Venezuela 2.25 88.0%
  Greece 1.35 90%

Conversion edit

  • According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, approximately 2.7 million convert to Christianity annually from another religion; World Christian Encyclopedia also stated that Christianity ranks in first place in net gains through religious conversion.[21] While, according to book "The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion", which published by the professor of Christian mission Charles E. Farhadian,[26] and the professor of psychology Lewis Ray Rambo,[27] between 1990 and 2000, approximately 1.9 million people converted to Christianity from another religion, with Christianity ranking first in net gains through religious conversion.[28]
  • According to "The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion", in mid-2005 approximately 15.5 million converted to Christianity from another religion, approximately 11.7 million left Christianity, and most of them became irreligious, resulting in a net gain of 3.8 million.[22] Christianity added about 65.1 million people due to factors such as birth rate and religious conversion, while it lost 27.4 million people due to factors such as death rate and religious apostasy in mid-2005. Most of the net growth in the numbers of Christians is in Africa, Latin America and Asia.[22]
  • Christianity is expected to lose a net of 66 million adherents (40 million converts versus 106 million apostate) mostly to religiously unaffiliated category between 2010 and 2050, it is also expected that Christianity may have the largest net loses in terms of religious conversion. However, these forecasts lack reliable data on religious conversion in China, but according to media reports and expert assessments, it is possible that the rapid growth of Christianity in China may maintain, or even increase, the current numerical advantage of Christianity as the largest religion in the world. This scenario (Chinese scenario) is based primarily on sensitivity tests.[13][29]
  • According to scholar Philip Jenkins Christianity is growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries and sub-Saharan Africa.[30]
  • According to various scholars and sources, Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing religious movement in the world;[14][15][16][17][18] this growth is primarily due to religious conversion to Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.[19][20] According to Pulitzer Center 35,000 people become Pentecostal or "Born again" every day.[31] According to scholar Keith Smith of Georgia State University "many scholars claim that Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious phenomenon in human history",[32] and according to scholar Peter L. Berger of Boston University "the spread of Pentecostal Christianity may be the fastest growing movement in the history of religion".[32]
  • According to a report by the Singapore Management University, more people in Southeast Asia are converting to Christianity, and these new converts are mostly Chinese business managers.[33] According to scholar Juliette Koning and Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam there is a "rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards. Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are "upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese". Asia has the second largest Pentecostal-charismatic Christians of any continent, with the number growing from 10 million to 135 million between 1970 and 2000".[33] According to scholar Wang Zuoa, 500,000 Chinese converts to Protestantism annually.[34] According to scholar Todd Hartch of Eastern Kentucky University, by 2005, around 6 million Africans converted to Christianity annually.[35]
  • Conversion into Christianity has significantly increased among Korean,[36] Chinese,[37] and Japanese in the United States.[38] In 2012, the percentage of Christians in these communities were 71%, 30% and 37% respectively.[39]
  • Due to conversion, the number of Chinese Christians increased significantly from 4 million before 1949 to 67 million in 2010.[40][41]
  • It's been reported also that increasing numbers of young people or educated people are becoming Christians in several countries such as China,[42][43] Hong Kong,[44] Indonesia,[45] Iran,[46][47] Japan,[48] Singapore,[49][50][51] and South Korea.[52]
  • The 2015 Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census study published by Baylor University institute for studies of religion estimates that 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity based on global missionary data.[53] Countries with the largest numbers of Muslims converted to Christianity according to this study include Indonesia (6,500,000),[54] Nigeria (600,000),[54] Iran (500,000 versus only 500 in 1979),[54] the United States (450,000),[55] Ethiopia (400,000) and Algeria (380,000).[54] Indonesia is home to the largest Christian community made up of converts from their former Islamic faith; according to various sources, since the mid and late 1960s, between two million and 2.5 million Muslims converted to Christianity.[56][57][58][59][60][61][62]
  • According to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2007, experts estimated that thousands of Muslims in the Western world converted to Christianity annually, but were not publicized due to fear of retribution.[63]

By branches edit

Catholic Church edit

  • Church membership in 2019 was 1.34 billion people[64] (18% of the global population at the time), increasing from the 1950 figure of 437 million[65] and 654 million in 1970.[66][67] On 31 December 2008, membership was 1.166 billion, an increase of 11.54% over the same date in 2000,[68] and slightly greater than the rate of increase of the world population (10.77%). The increase was 33.02% in Africa,[68] but only 1.17% in Europe. It was 15.91% in Asia, 11.39% in Oceania, and 10.93% in Americas.[68] As a result, Catholics were 17.77% of the total population in Africa, 63.10% in Americas, 3.05% in Asia, 39.97% in Europe, 26.21% in Oceania, and 17.40% of the world population. Of the world's Catholics, the proportion living in Africa grew from 12.44% in 2000 to 14.84% in 2008, while those living in Europe fell from 26.81% to 24.31%. However, Catholic numbers have grown in Scandinavia where the Catholics in Nordic dioceses have tripled or even quadrupled. For example, in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, 330,000 Catholics have now registered in their dioceses.[69][70] Membership of the Catholic Church is attained through baptism,[71] and from 1983 to 2009, if someone formally left the Church, that fact was noted in the register of the person's baptism.
  • Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiles the Vatican's yearbook, said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population—a stable percentage—while Muslims were at 19.2 percent. "It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer", the monsignor said,[72] though Africa and parts of Asia are the exception. If the UN report in 2018 is on target, Africa's population will grow to 4.5 billion by 2100, adding to all African religious groups.[73] Muslims in 2010 represented as much as 23.4% of the total world population and this is expected to increase to 26.3% by 2030.[74] The global Catholic population is projected to grow to 1.63 billion in 2050,[75] but by that time Islam will have nearly 3 billion adherents.

Eastern Orthodoxy edit

Protestantism edit

By continent edit

  • According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the World Christian Database as of 2007 estimated the six fastest-growing religions of the world to be Islam (1.84%), the Baháʼí Faith (1.7%), Sikhism (1.62%), Jainism (1.57%), Hinduism (1.52%) and Christianity (1.32%). High birth rates and conversions in the global South were cited as the reasons for the Christian population growths.[100]
  • The U.S. Center for World Mission stated a growth rate of Christianity at 2.3% for the period 1970 to 1996 (slightly higher than the world population growth rate at the time). This increased the claimed percentage of adherents of Christianity from 33.7% to 33.9%.[101]
  • The World Christian Database as of 2007 estimated the growth rate of Christianity at 1.32%. High birth rates and conversions were cited as the main reasons.[102]
  • Using data from the period 2000–2005 the 2006 Christian World Database estimated that by number of new adherents, Christianity was the fastest growing religion in the world with 30,360,000 new adherents in 2006. This was followed by Islam with 23,920,000 and Hinduism with 13,224,000 estimated new adherents in the same period.[103]
  • According to 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there are more than 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910.[1]
  • The 2015 "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census" estimates 10,283,700 Muslim converted to Christianity around the world.[53]
  • On 2 April 2015, the Pew Research Center published a Demographic Study about "The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050" with projections regarding Christianity.[104] The projection begins with 2010 statistics when "Christianity was by far the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third (31%) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth. Islam was second, with 1.6 billion adherents, or 23% of the global population."[104]
Projected growth of Christianity by 2050
Some of the projections are as follows:[105]
  1. Over the 2010-2050 period, Christians will remain the largest religious group with 30.7% of the world's population. However, Islam will grow faster and become 29.7% of the world's population. Therefore, by 2050 there will be 2.8 billion Muslims compared to 2.9 billion Christians.
  2. "In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050".
  3. "Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa".
Reasons given for the projected growth
Some of the reasons the Study gives are as follows:[104]
  1. The change in the world's religious is "driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world's major religions, as well as by people switching faiths".
  2. Fertility rates. "Religions with many adherents in developing countries, where birth rates are high, and infant mortality rates generally have been falling, are likely to grow quickly." Therefore, much of the growth of Christianity is projected to take place in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, Christians have a birth rate of 2.7 children per woman. But Muslims have a higher rate, namely, an average of 3.1 children per woman. This differential is one of the reasons that the Muslim population is growing faster than the Christian.
  3. Size of youth population. "In 2010, more than a quarter of the world's total population (27%) was under the age of 15." Christian youth under 15 were the same as the 27% global average. But an even higher percentage of Muslims (34%) were younger than 15. This higher youth population is one of the reasons that from 2010 to 2050 Muslims are projected to grow faster than Christians.
  4. Size of old population. In 2010, "11% of the world's population was at least 60 years old", 14% of the Christian population was over 60 years old, but only 7% of Muslims were over 60. This is another reason that Muslims are projected to grow faster than Christians.
  5. Switching. A loss of 66 million Christians is projected to come through switching. Most of the loss is projected to come from Christians "joining the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated".
The whole Pew Research Center can be read by clicking The Future of World Religions.

Africa edit

  • Christianity has been estimated[1] to be growing rapidly in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.[87] In Africa, for instance, in 1900, there were only 8.7 million[1] adherents of Christianity; now there are 390 million,[1] and it is expected that by 2025 there will be 600 million Christians in Africa.[1] The number of Catholics in Africa has increased from one million in 1902 to 329,882,000.[1] From 2015 to 2016 alone, Africa saw an increase of 49,767,000 Catholics, a larger increase than any other continent.[106]
  • According to scholar Todd Hartch of Eastern Kentucky University, by 2005, around 6 million Africans converted to Christianity annually.[35]
  • According to scholar R.V. Dmitriev, over 3.3 million African converted to Christianity in 2010.[107]
  • A 2015 study estimates 2,161,000 Muslim Africans that convert to Christianity.[53]

Algeria edit

  • Since 1960 a growing number of Algerian Muslims are converting to Christianity.[108][109][110][111][112]
  • Converts to Christianity may be investigated and searched by the authorities.[113] Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie, especially in the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou.[114]
  • A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria.[53]

Benin edit

  • A 2015 study estimates 40,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Benin.[53]

Burkina Faso edit

  • A 2015 study estimates 200,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Burkina Faso.[53]

Burundi edit

  • A 2015 study estimates 2,200 Muslims converted to Christianity in Burundi.[53]

Cameroon edit

  • A 2015 study estimates 90,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Cameroon.[53]

Central African Republic edit

Egypt edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 14,000 Muslims who converted to Christianity in Egypt.[115]

Ethiopia edit

  • A 2015 study estimates 400,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Ethiopia most belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.[53]

Libya edit

  • A 2015 study estimated some 1,500 believers in Christ from a Muslim background living in the country.[115]

Morocco edit

  • Since 1960 a growing number of Moroccan Muslims are converting to Christianity.[116][117][118][119][120]
  • On 27 March 2010, the Moroccan magazine TelQuel stated that thousands of Moroccans had converted to Christianity. Pointing out the absence of official data, Service de presse Common Ground cites unspecified sources that stated that about 5,000 Moroccans became Christians between 2005 and 2010.[121] According to the International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 estimate that there may be as many as 8,000 Christian citizens throughout the country, but many reportedly do not meet regularly due to fear of government surveillance and social persecution.[122]
  • According to different estimates, there are about 25,000-45,000 Moroccan Christians of Berber or Arab descent mostly converted from Islam.[123] Other sources give a number of a bit more than 1,000.[124] A popular Christian program by Brother Rachid has led many former Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East to convert to Christianity. His programs have been credited with assisting in the conversion of over 150,000 former Muslims to Christianity in Morocco.[125]

Nigeria edit

  • The percentage of Christians in Nigeria grew from 21.4% in 1953 to 48.2% in 2011.[40] This is due to the high number of missionaries in Nigeria.
  • ِA 2015 study estimates some 600,000 believers in Christ are from a Muslim background living in Nigeria.[115]

South Africa edit

Tunisia edit

  • International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimate thousands of Tunisian Muslims who convert to Christianity.[127]

Americas edit

Argentina edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 2,200 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.[115][128]
  • Data from 2013, show that 64,000 Argentine Jews identify themselves as Christians.[129]

Canada edit

  • According to 1991/2001/2011-Census, the number of Christians in Canada has decreased from 22.5 million to 22.1 million.
  • A 2015 study estimates some 43,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in Canada, most of whom belong to the evangelical tradition.[115]

Mexico edit

  • According to INEGI, The number of Catholics grows annually by 1.7%.[130]

United States edit

The United States government does not collect religious data in its census. The survey below, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2008, was a random digit-dialed telephone survey of 54,461 American residential households in the contiguous United States. The 1990 sample size was 113,723; 2001 sample size was 50,281.

Adult respondents were asked the open-ended question, "What is your religion, if any?" Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers. The religion of the spouse or partner was also asked. If the initial answer was "Protestant" or "Christian" further questions were asked to probe which particular denomination. About one-third of the sample was asked more detailed demographic questions.

Among the Asian population in the United States, conversion into Christianity is significantly increasing among Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.[131] By 2012 the percentage of Christians in these communities was 71%, 31%, and 38% respectively.[39]

Data from the Pew Research Center states that, as of 2013, about 1.6 million adult American Jews identify themselves as Christians, most as Protestants.[132][133][134] According to the same data, most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian (1.6 million) were raised as Jewish or are Jews by ancestry.[133] According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 19% of those who say they were raised Jewish in the United States, consider themselves Christian.[135]

According to Pew Research, Christianity loses more people than it gains from religious conversion. It found that 23% of Americans raised as Christians no longer identified with Christianity, whereas 6% of current Christians converted.[136] This was in contrast to Islam in America, where the number of people who leave the religion is roughly equal to the number who convert to it.[136] The National Catholic Register claims that in 2015 there were 450,000 American Muslim converts to Christianity and that 20,000 Muslims convert to Christianity annually in the United States.[137] According to scholar Rob Scott of University of Tasmania in 2010 there were "approximately 180,000 Arab Americans and about 130,000 Iranian Americans who converted from Islam to Christianity".[138]

Religious Self-Identification of the U.S. Adult Population: 1990, 2001, 2008[139]
Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply; investigators suspect refusals are possibly more representative of "no religion" than any other group.

Source:ARIS 2008[139]
Group
1990
adults
x 1,000
2001
adults
x 1,000
2008
adults
x 1,000

Numerical
Change
1990–
2008
as %
of 1990
1990
% of
adults
2001
% of
adults
2008
% of
adults
change
in % of
total
adults
1990–
2008
Adult population, total 175,440 207,983 228,182 30.1%
Adult population, Responded 171,409 196,683 216,367 26.2% 97.7% 94.6% 94.8% −2.9%
Total Christian 151,225 159,514 173,402 14.7% 86.2% 76.7% 76.0% −10.2%
Catholic 46,004 50,873 57,199 24.3% 26.2% 24.5% 25.1% −1.2%
non-Catholic Christian 105,221 108,641 116,203 10.4% 60.0% 52.2% 50.9% −9.0%
Baptist 33,964 33,820 36,148 6.4% 19.4% 16.3% 15.8% −3.5%
Mainline Christian 32,784 35,788 29,375 −10.4% 18.7% 17.2% 12.9% −5.8%
Methodist 14,174 14,039 11,366 −19.8% 8.1% 6.8% 5.0% −3.1%
Lutheran 9,110 9,580 8,674 −4.8% 5.2% 4.6% 3.8% −1.4%
Presbyterian 4,985 5,596 4,723 −5.3% 2.8% 2.7% 2.1% −0.8%
Episcopalian/Anglican 3,043 3,451 2,405 −21.0% 1.7% 1.7% 1.1% −0.7%
United Church of Christ 438 1,378 736 68.0% 0.2% 0.7% 0.3% 0.1%
Christian Generic 25,980 22,546 32,441 24.9% 14.8% 10.8% 14.2% −0.6%
Christian Unspecified 8,073 14,190 16,384 102.9% 4.6% 6.8% 7.2% 2.6%
Non-denominational Christian 194 2,489 8,032 4040.2% 0.1% 1.2% 3.5% 3.4%
Protestant – Unspecified 17,214 4,647 5,187 −69.9% 9.8% 2.2% 2.3% −7.5%
Evangelical/Born Again 546 1,088 2,154 294.5% 0.3% 0.5% 0.9% 0.6%
Pentecostal/Charismatic 5,647 7,831 7,948 40.7% 3.2% 3.8% 3.5% 0.3%
Pentecostal – Unspecified 3,116 4,407 5,416 73.8% 1.8% 2.1% 2.4% 0.6%
Assemblies of God 617 1,105 810 31.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.4% 0.0%
Church of God 590 943 663 12.4% 0.3% 0.5% 0.3% 0.0%
Other Protestant Denominations 4,630 5,949 7,131 54.0% 2.6% 2.9% 3.1% 0.5%
Churches of Christ 1,769 2,593 1,921 8.6% 1.0% 1.2% 0.8% −0.2%
Seventh-Day Adventist 668 724 938 40.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.4% 0.0%
Jehovah's Witnesses 1,381 1,331 1,914 38.6% 0.8% 0.6% 0.8% 0.1%
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 2,487 2,697 3,158 27.0% 1.4% 1.3% 1.4% 0.0%
Total non-Christian religions 5,853 7,740 8,796 50.3% 3.3% 3.7% 3.9% 0.5%
Jewish 3,137 2,837 2,680 −14.6% 1.8% 1.4% 1.2% −0.6%
Eastern Religions 687 2,020 1,961 185.4% 0.4% 1.0% 0.9% 0.5%
Buddhist 404 1,082 1,189 194.3% 0.2% 0.5% 0.5% 0.3%
Muslim 527 1,104 1,349 156.0% 0.3% 0.5% 0.6% 0.3%
New Religious Movements & Others 1,296 1,770 2,804 116.4% 0.7% 0.9% 1.2% 0.5%
None/ No religion, total 14,331 29,481 34,169 138.4% 8.2% 14.2% 15.0% 6.8%
Agnostic+Atheist 1,186 1,893 3,606 204.0% 0.7% 0.9% 1.6% 0.9%
Did Not Know/ Refused to reply 4,031 11,300 11,815 193.1% 2.3% 5.4% 5.2% 2.9%

Highlights:[139]

  1. The ARIS 2008 survey was carried out from February–November 2008 and collected answers from 54,461 respondents who were questioned in English or Spanish.
  2. The American population self-identifies as predominantly Christian but Americans are slowly becoming less Christian.
    • 86% of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008.
    • The historic Mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines while the non-denominational Christian identity has been trending upward particularly since 2001.
    • The challenge to Christianity in the United States does not come from other religions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.
  3. 34% of American adults considered themselves "Born Again or Evangelical Christians" in 2008.
  4. The U.S. population continues to show signs of becoming less religious, with one out of every seven Americans failing to indicate a religious identity in 2008.
    • The "Nones" (no stated religious preference, atheist, or agnostic) continue to grow, though at a much slower pace than in the 1990s, from 8.2% in 1990 to 14.1% in 2001, to 15.0% in 2008.
    • Asian Americans are substantially more likely to indicate no religious identity than other racial or ethnic groups.
  5. One sign of the lack of attachment of Americans to religion is that 27% do not expect a religious funeral at their death.
  6. Based on their stated beliefs rather than their religious identification in 2008, 70% of Americans believe in a personal God, roughly 12% of Americans are atheist (no God) or agnostic (unknowable or unsure), and another 12% are deistic (a higher power but no personal God).
  7. America's religious geography has been transformed since 1990. Religious switching along with Hispanic immigration has significantly changed the religious profile of some states and regions. Between 1990 and 2008, the Catholic population proportion of the New England states fell from 50% to 36% and in New York it fell from 44% to 37%, while it rose in California from 29% to 37% and in Texas from 23% to 32%.
  8. Overall the 1990–2008 ARIS time series shows that changes in religious self-identification in the first decade of the 21st century have been moderate in comparison to the 1990s, which was a period of significant shifts in the religious composition of the United States

Asia edit

  • According to scholar Philip Jenkins Christianity is growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries.[30]
  • According to a report by the Singapore Management University, more people in Southeast Asia are converting to Christianity, and these new converts are mostly Chinese business managers.[33]
  • According to scholar Juliette Koning and Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam there is a "rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards. Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are "upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese". Asia has the second largest Pentecostal-charismatic Christians of any continent, with the number growing from 10 million to 135 million between 1970 and 2000".[33]

Afghanistan edit

Azerbaijan edit

Bangladesh edit

  • According to scholars Khalil Bilici, during the Bangladesh Liberation War (March–December 1971), a significant number of Bangladeshis left Islam to join Christianity (because missionaries stood with them during their difficult times during the civil strife) or to atheism after 1971 due to their experience of oppression conducted by fellow Muslims from West Pakistan.[147]
  • A 2015 study estimates some 130,000 Christians from a Muslim background residing in the Bangladesh, though not all are necessarily citizens.[115]
  • The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated the numbers of the Muslim who convert to Christianity in Bangladesh has risen from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand between 1971 and 1991.[148]
  • The Home Office estimated that 91,000 Muslims have converted to Christianity in Bangladesh.[149]

China edit

  • In recent years, the number of Chinese Christians has increased significantly, particularly since the easing of restrictions on religious activity during economic reforms in the late 1970s; Christians were 4 million before 1949 (including Catholics and Protestants), and reaching 67 million (unofficial figure) in 2010.[1][41] Various statistical analyses have found that between 2% and 4% of the Chinese identify as Christian.
  • The government declared in 2018 that there are over 44 million Christians (Protestant: 38M, Catholic: 6M) in China.[150]
  • According to a study by a scholar Fenggang Yang from Purdue University, Christianity is "spreading among the Chinese of South-East Asia", and "Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is growing more quickly in China",[151] also according to him, more than half of them have university degrees.[151]
  • According to the Council on Foreign Relations the "number of Chinese Protestants has grown by an average of 10 percent annually since 1979".[152]

India edit

  • Christianity is the third largest religion in India after Hinduism and Islam, with approximately 30 million followers.
  • A 2015 study estimates some 40,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism or Catholicism.[115]
  • While the exact number of Dalit converts to Christianity in India is not available, scholar William R. Burrow of Colorado State University estimated that about 8% of Dalit have converted to Christianity.[153]
  • According to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity in India gained an increase from conversion, most of the Christian converts in India are former Hindus.[154]

Indonesia edit

  • According to various sources, between 1965 and 1985 about 2.5 million Indonesian converted from Islam to Christianity.[56][57][58][155]
  • The "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census" found that between 1960 and 2015 about 6.5 million Indonesian Muslims convert to Christianity.[53]
  • Some reports also show that many of the Chinese Indonesians minority convert to Christianity.[156][157] Demographer Aris Ananta reported in 2008 that "anecdotal evidence suggests that more Buddhist Chinese have become Christians as they increased their standards of education".[158]

Iran edit

  • Significant numbers of Muslims convert to Christianity in Iran, estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.[159][160][161][162][163] Other estimates put the numbers between 800,000 and 3 million.[164]
  • According to scholar Ladan Boroumand "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world",[165] and according to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University "Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest",[166] and in 2018 "up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals",[167] and he adds "recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million".[168]
  • Christianity is reportedly the fastest growing religion in Iran with an average annual rate of 5.2%.[169] A 2015 study estimates between 100,000 and 500,000 believers Christians from a Muslim background living in Iran, most of them evangelical Christians.[115]
  • Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Iranian diaspora.[170]

Israel edit

  • Several thousand Israelis practice Messianic Jewish denominations, which are often considered as Christian sects. The Messianic Jews usually combine Jewish and Christian practices but do recognize Jesus as the Messiah. There are no exact numbers on those communities, but it is believed that several hundred to several thousand ethnic Jews belong to this tradition as well as several thousand Israelis of mixed ancestry (mostly mixed Jewish and Slavic).
  • The Christian population in Israel has increased significantly with the immigration of many mixed families from the former Soviet Union (1989-late 1990s).
  • A 2015 study estimates some 300 Christians from a Muslim background in Israel.

Japan edit

  • Christianity is one of several minority religions in Japan, accounting for about not more than 1 percent of the population.[171][172][173]
  • According to a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2006, Christianity has increased significantly in Japan, particularly among youth, and a high number of teens are becoming Christians.[48][174][175]
  • A 2015 study estimates some 300 Christians from a Muslim background in Japan.

Jordan edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 6,500 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Eastern Orthodoxy.[115]

Kazakhstan edit

  • In spite of the persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity, a 2015 study estimates some 50,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background residing in the country.[115][176]

Kuwait edit

  • There are a number of believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country, though many are not citizens. A 2015 study estimates that around 350 people in the country follow these beliefs.[115]

Kyrgyzstan edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 19,000 Christians from a Muslim background residing in the country, though not all are necessarily citizens of Kyrgyzstan.[115]
  • Exact numbers of Muslim Kyrgyz converts to Christianity vary but an estimate of around 20,000 is generally accepted among scholars[177][178]

Malaysia edit

  • There is no well researched agreement on the actual number of Malaysian Muslim converts to Christianity in Malaysia.[179] But according to Tan Sri Dr Harussani Zakaria, they are 260,000.[179][180]

Mongolia edit

Oman edit

  • A 2015 study estimates a mere 200 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country, and not all of those are necessarily citizens.[115]

Saudi Arabia edit

A 2015 study estimates 60,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Saudi Arabia.[53]

Singapore edit

  • The percentage of Christians among Singaporeans increased from 12.7% in 1990 to 17.5% in 2010.[181]
  • According to scholar Michael Nai-Chiu Poon of University of Toronto conversion to Christianity is increasing among Chinese Singaporeans.[182]
  • It's been reported also that increasing numbers of young people or educated people are becoming Christians in Singapore.[49][183][51]

South Korea edit

  • In South Korea, Christianity has grown from 20.7% in 1985 to 29.5% in 2005 according to the World Christian Database.[126][184]

Syria edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 2,000 Muslims who converted to Christianity in Syria, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism or Oriental Orthodoxy.[115]
  • Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Syrian diaspora,[185] and among Kurds in Syria.[186]
  • By one estimate made by Elisabet Granli from University of Oslo, around 1,920 Syrian Druz converted to Christianity.[187]

Tajikistan edit

  • In spite of opposition in relation to conversion from Islam to Christianity, a 2015 study estimates some 2,600 to 3,000 Christians with Muslim backgrounds reside in the country.[115][188]

Turkey edit

Uzbekistan edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 10,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country,[199] most of them belonging to some sort of evangelical or charismatic Protestant community.[53]

Vietnam edit

Europe edit

Albania edit

  • Since 1960 a growing number of Albanian Muslims are converting to Christianity.[201][202][203][204][205][206]
  • A 2015 study estimated some 13,000 followers of Christ from a Muslim background, though it is not clear to which Christian churches these people had converted.[115]
  • Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Albanian diaspora.[207][203]

Belgium edit

  • Reports estimated that "many" Muslims convert every year to Christianity in Belgium.[208]

Bulgaria edit

  • Reports estimated that thousands of Muslims (mostly Bulgarian Turks) convert every year to Christianity in Bulgaria.[209][210][211] A 2015 study estimates 45,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.[115]

Denmark edit

  • There are around 8,000 Christians who have converted from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.[115][212][213]

France edit

  • Protestants have increased as a percentage of total population from 1% in 1987 to 3% in 2009.[214]
  • Reports form Le Monde estimated that 15,000 Muslims convert every year to Christianity.[215]
  • Some scholars and media reports indicate that there been increasing numbers of conversions to Christianity among the Maghrebis in France.[216][217]

Georgia edit

Germany edit

Kosovo edit

Norway edit

Netherlands edit

  • Reports estimated that 4,500 Muslims have converted to Christianity in the Netherlands.[227]
  • In recent years a number of Dutch Muslims have converted to Christianity.[228][213]

Russia edit

  • According to Roman Silantyev the executive secretary of the Inter-religious Council in Russia, about 2 million Muslims in Russia have converted to Christianity between during the last fifteen years while only 2,500 Russians converted to Islam.[229]
  • According to a 2012 study, 17% of Jews in Russia identify themselves as Christians.[230][231]

Spain edit

  • Between 1998 and 2018, Protestantism grew from 0.24% to 1.96% of the Spanish population.[95][96]

Sweden edit

  • In recent years a number of Swedish Muslims have converted from Islam to the Church of Sweden, most noticeably by Iranians, but also by Arabs and Pakistanis.[232][233][234]

United Kingdom edit

  • A 2015 study estimated some 25,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background, most of whom belong to an evangelical or Pentecostal community.[115]
  • In recent years a number of Muslims have converted to Christianity in the United Kingdom.[235][236]

Oceania edit

Australia edit

  • A 2015 study estimates some 20,000 Muslim converted to Christianity in Australia, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.[115]

See also edit

References edit

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  117. ^ "'House-Churches' and Silent Masses —The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret – VICE News". 23 March 2015. Converted Moroccans — most of them secret worshippers, of whom there are estimated to be anywhere between 5,000 and 40,000 —
  118. ^ "Morocco's 'hidden' Christians to push for religious freedom". AfricanNews. 30 January 2017. There are no official statistics, but leaders say there are about 50,000 Moroccan Christians, most of them from the Protestant Evangelical tradition.
  119. ^ "MOROCCO2019INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT" (PDF). RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT. 30 January 2019. the Moroccan Association of Human Rights estimates there are 25,000 Christian citizens. One media source reported that while most Christians in the country are foreigners, there are an estimated 8,000 Christian citizens and that "several thousand" citizens have converted, mostly to Protestant churches..
  120. ^ "Morocco's Christian converts emerge from the shadows". Time of Israel. 30 April 2017. Converts to Christianity form a tiny minority of Moroccans. While no official statistics exist, the US State Department estimates their numbers at between 2,000 and 6,000.
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  123. ^ "'House-Churches' and Silent Masses —The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret". vice.com. 23 March 2015.
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  142. ^ The 2011 International Religious Freedom Repor. University of California Press. 2018. p. 86. ISBN 9780160905346. all indigenous Christians ( whose numbers are impossible to determine but have been estimated by the State Department at 500-8,000 ) are converts from Islam
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  160. ^ "Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic". Journal of Democracy. 22 January 2020.
  161. ^ "'Our second mother': Iran's converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany". The Guardian. 12 May 2014. The underground nature of the Christian conversion movement has made numbers impossible to determine accurately. Estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000 by various sources.
  162. ^ "2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran". United States Department of State. 12 May 2019. estimates citing figures lower than 10,000, and others, such as Open Doors USA, citing numbers above 800,000, Many Protestants and converts to Christianity from Islam reportedly practice in secret.
  163. ^ "Are Iran's Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani's demise?". The Jerusalem Post. 7 February 2018. Conservative estimates place the number of Christians in Iran between 500,000 to 800,000 believers, but others claim there are more than one million. Traditionally, Christian families amount to around 250,000, while the remainder consists of converts from Islam. Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house-church movement, which Iran considers to be illegal. Meanwhile, according to Islamic and Iranian law, conversion from Islam is a capital offense.
  164. ^ . Home Office. 20 February 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2022. Open Doors, interviewed by the UK Home Office on 8 August 2017, stated that many converts do not publicly report their faith due to persecution, so it is difficult to record the exact numbers of Iranian Christian converts. Open Doors believes the number to be 800,000, although this is a conservative estimate. Other estimates put the number between 400,000-500,000 right up to 3 million... A March 2019 US Congressional Research Service report on Iran put the 300,000
  165. ^ "Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic". Journal of Democracy. 20 January 2020.
  166. ^ "Iran's Christian Boom". JewishPress. 29 June 2021. Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University wrote last year about Iran that "Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there, while Christianity is growing the fastest."
  167. ^ "America Must Focus on Religious Persecution against Iranian Christian Converts". providence. 3 August 2020. Speaking of faith and Iran, most people think of Islam. Yet Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there, while Christianity is growing the fastest. According to a report by the Department of State from 2018, up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals. Recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between one million and three million. This is up from 100,000 in 1994, and a majority of these converts are reportedly women. A recent documentary, Sheep among Wolves, documents the lives of these converts and shows how Iran is the "fastest-growing church" in the world.
  168. ^ "America Must Focus on Religious Persecution against Iranian Christian Converts". providence. 3 August 2020. Recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between one million and three million.
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  172. ^ . Mission Network News. 3 September 2007. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2018. The population of Japan is less than one-percent Christian
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  176. ^ Radford, David (2015). Religious Identity and Social Change: Explaining Christian conversion in a Muslim world. Routledge. ISBN 9781317691716. Today it is possible to speak of thousand of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs converted to Protestantism. This new phenomenon has clashed with the common belief that all native people must be Muslim
  177. ^ Akçalı, Pınar (2013). Politics, Identity and Education in Central Asia: Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Routledge. ISBN 9781135627676.
  178. ^ "Religion and the Secular State in Kyrgyzstan" (PDF). The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies. 20 June 2020. P.25: By the early 2000s, some scholars estimated the total number of Kyrgyz converts to Christianity to about 25,000
  179. ^ a b Ahmad Farouk Musa; Mohd Radziq Jalaluddin; Ahmad Fuad Rahmat; Edry Faizal Eddy Yusuf (22 October 2011). "What is Himpun about?". The Star. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  180. ^ RChinyong Liow, Joseph (2016). Religion and Nationalism in Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 142. ISBN 9781107167728. Harussani Zakaria, publicly fulminated that up to 260,000 Muslims in Malaysia had left the faith and converted to Christianity
  181. ^ "Better-educated S'pore residents look to religion". asiaone.com.
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  185. ^ "The Muslim refugees converting to Christianity 'to find safety'". Telegraph. 30 January 2017.
  186. ^ "Christianity grows in Syrian town once besieged by Islamic State". Reuters. 16 April 2019. A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani
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  188. ^ Abdullaev, Kamoludin (2018). Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 370. ISBN 9781538102527. In 2016, the government estimated the number of Christian converts at up to 3,000 persons.
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  193. ^ White, Jenny (2014). Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks: Updated Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 82. ISBN 9781400851256. a number that vastly exceeds the size of present-day Turkish-speaking Protestant churches, of whose 3,000 members are converts from Islam
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christian, population, growth, population, growth, global, christian, community, according, 2011, research, center, survey, there, were, more, than, billion, christians, around, world, 2010, more, than, three, times, many, million, recorded, 1910, however, thi. Christian population growth is the population growth of the global Christian community According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey there were more than 2 2 billion Christians around the world in 2010 more than three times as many as the 600 million recorded in 1910 However this rate of growth is slower than the overall population growth over the same time period 1 In 2020 Pew estimated the number of Christians worldwide to be around 2 38 billion 2 According to various scholars and sources high birth rates and conversions in the Global South were cited as the reasons for the Christian population growth 3 4 5 6 7 8 In 2023 it was reported There will be over 2 6 billion Christians worldwide by the middle of 2023 and around 3 3 billion by 2050 according to a report published in early January by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary 9 10 Contents 1 Summary 2 Fertility rate 3 Conversion 4 By branches 4 1 Catholic Church 4 2 Eastern Orthodoxy 4 3 Protestantism 5 By continent 5 1 Africa 5 1 1 Algeria 5 1 2 Benin 5 1 3 Burkina Faso 5 1 4 Burundi 5 1 5 Cameroon 5 1 6 Central African Republic 5 1 7 Egypt 5 1 8 Ethiopia 5 1 9 Libya 5 1 10 Morocco 5 1 11 Nigeria 5 1 12 South Africa 5 1 13 Tunisia 5 2 Americas 5 2 1 Argentina 5 2 2 Canada 5 2 3 Mexico 5 2 4 United States 5 3 Asia 5 3 1 Afghanistan 5 3 2 Azerbaijan 5 3 3 Bangladesh 5 3 4 China 5 3 5 India 5 3 6 Indonesia 5 3 7 Iran 5 3 8 Israel 5 3 9 Japan 5 3 10 Jordan 5 3 11 Kazakhstan 5 3 12 Kuwait 5 3 13 Kyrgyzstan 5 3 14 Malaysia 5 3 15 Mongolia 5 3 16 Oman 5 3 17 Saudi Arabia 5 3 18 Singapore 5 3 19 South Korea 5 3 20 Syria 5 3 21 Tajikistan 5 3 22 Turkey 5 3 23 Uzbekistan 5 3 24 Vietnam 5 4 Europe 5 4 1 Albania 5 4 2 Belgium 5 4 3 Bulgaria 5 4 4 Denmark 5 4 5 France 5 4 6 Georgia 5 4 7 Germany 5 4 8 Kosovo 5 4 9 Norway 5 4 10 Netherlands 5 4 11 Russia 5 4 12 Spain 5 4 13 Sweden 5 4 14 United Kingdom 5 5 Oceania 5 5 1 Australia 6 See also 7 ReferencesSummary editThis section needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information September 2021 Demographics of major traditions within Christianity Pew Research Center 2010 data 11 Tradition Followers of the Christian population of the world population Follower dynamics Dynamics in and outside ChristianityCatholic Church 1 094 610 000 50 1 15 9 nbsp Growing nbsp StableProtestantism 800 640 000 36 7 11 6 nbsp Growing nbsp GrowingOrthodoxy 260 380 000 11 9 3 8 nbsp Shrinking nbsp ShrinkingOther denominations 28 430 000 1 3 0 4 nbsp Growing nbsp GrowingChristianity 2 184 060 000 100 31 7 nbsp Stable nbsp StableRegional median ages of Christians compared with overall median ages Pew Research Center 2010 data 12 Christian median age in region years Regional median age years World 30Sub Saharan Africa 19 18Latin America Caribbean 27 27Asia Pacific 28 29Middle East North Africa 29 24North America 39 37Europe 42 40The Christian fertility rate is 2 7 children per woman which is higher than the global average fertility rate of 2 5 Globally Christians were only slightly older median age of 30 than the global average median age of 28 in 2010 According to Pew Research religious switching is projected to have a modest impact on changes in the Christian population 13 According to various scholars and sources Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in the world 14 15 16 17 18 this growth is primarily due to religious conversion to Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity 19 20 According to the World Christian Encyclopedia approximately 2 7 million converting to Christianity from another religion World Christian Encyclopedia also cited that Christianity rank at first place in net gains through religious conversion 21 While according to The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion approximately 15 5 million converting to Christianity from another religion while approximately 11 7 million leave Christianity and most of them become irreligious resulting in a net gain of 3 8 million 22 Christianity earns about 65 1 million people due to factors such as birth rate and religious conversion while losing 27 4 million people due to factors such as death rate and religious apostasy Most of the net growth in the numbers of Christians are in Africa Latin America and Asia 22 Fertility rate editThe Christian fertility rate has varied throughout history as with other fertility figures The Christian fertility rate also varies from country to country In the 20 year period from 1989 to 2009 the average world fertility rate decreased from 3 50 to 2 58 a fall of 0 92 children per woman or 26 The weighted average fertility rate for Christian nations decreased in the same period from 3 26 to 2 58 a fall of 0 68 children per woman or 21 The weighted average fertility rate for Muslim nations decreased in the same period from 5 17 to 3 23 a fall of 1 94 children per woman or 38 While Muslims have an average of 3 1 children per woman the highest rate of all religious groups Christians are second with 2 7 children per woman 23 The gap in fertility between the Christian and Muslim dominated nations fell from 67 in 1990 to 17 in 2010 According to a study published by the Pew Research Center in 2017 births to Muslims between the years of 2010 and 2015 made up an estimated 31 of all babies born around the world By the Pew Research Center s estimates the Muslim fertility rate and Christian fertility rate will converge by 2040 24 Country Fertility rate 2019 births woman 25 Percent Christian nbsp Ecuador 2 40 94 nbsp East Timor 3 94 99 nbsp Armenia 1 76 98 6 nbsp Equatorial Guinea 4 43 92 nbsp Moldova 1 27 95 3 nbsp Venezuela 2 25 88 0 nbsp Greece 1 35 90 Conversion editSee also Convert to Christianity and List of people who converted to Christianity According to the World Christian Encyclopedia approximately 2 7 million convert to Christianity annually from another religion World Christian Encyclopedia also stated that Christianity ranks in first place in net gains through religious conversion 21 While according to book The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion which published by the professor of Christian mission Charles E Farhadian 26 and the professor of psychology Lewis Ray Rambo 27 between 1990 and 2000 approximately 1 9 million people converted to Christianity from another religion with Christianity ranking first in net gains through religious conversion 28 According to The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion in mid 2005 approximately 15 5 million converted to Christianity from another religion approximately 11 7 million left Christianity and most of them became irreligious resulting in a net gain of 3 8 million 22 Christianity added about 65 1 million people due to factors such as birth rate and religious conversion while it lost 27 4 million people due to factors such as death rate and religious apostasy in mid 2005 Most of the net growth in the numbers of Christians is in Africa Latin America and Asia 22 Christianity is expected to lose a net of 66 million adherents 40 million converts versus 106 million apostate mostly to religiously unaffiliated category between 2010 and 2050 it is also expected that Christianity may have the largest net loses in terms of religious conversion However these forecasts lack reliable data on religious conversion in China but according to media reports and expert assessments it is possible that the rapid growth of Christianity in China may maintain or even increase the current numerical advantage of Christianity as the largest religion in the world This scenario Chinese scenario is based primarily on sensitivity tests 13 29 According to scholar Philip Jenkins Christianity is growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries and sub Saharan Africa 30 According to various scholars and sources Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in the world 14 15 16 17 18 this growth is primarily due to religious conversion to Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity 19 20 According to Pulitzer Center 35 000 people become Pentecostal or Born again every day 31 According to scholar Keith Smith of Georgia State University many scholars claim that Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious phenomenon in human history 32 and according to scholar Peter L Berger of Boston University the spread of Pentecostal Christianity may be the fastest growing movement in the history of religion 32 According to a report by the Singapore Management University more people in Southeast Asia are converting to Christianity and these new converts are mostly Chinese business managers 33 According to scholar Juliette Koning and Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam there is a rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards Singapore China Hong Kong Taiwan Indonesia and Malaysia are said to have the fastest growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are upwardly mobile urban middle class Chinese Asia has the second largest Pentecostal charismatic Christians of any continent with the number growing from 10 million to 135 million between 1970 and 2000 33 According to scholar Wang Zuoa 500 000 Chinese converts to Protestantism annually 34 According to scholar Todd Hartch of Eastern Kentucky University by 2005 around 6 million Africans converted to Christianity annually 35 Conversion into Christianity has significantly increased among Korean 36 Chinese 37 and Japanese in the United States 38 In 2012 the percentage of Christians in these communities were 71 30 and 37 respectively 39 Due to conversion the number of Chinese Christians increased significantly from 4 million before 1949 to 67 million in 2010 40 41 It s been reported also that increasing numbers of young people or educated people are becoming Christians in several countries such as China 42 43 Hong Kong 44 Indonesia 45 Iran 46 47 Japan 48 Singapore 49 50 51 and South Korea 52 The 2015 Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background A Global Census study published by Baylor University institute for studies of religion estimates that 10 2 million Muslims converted to Christianity based on global missionary data 53 Countries with the largest numbers of Muslims converted to Christianity according to this study include Indonesia 6 500 000 54 Nigeria 600 000 54 Iran 500 000 versus only 500 in 1979 54 the United States 450 000 55 Ethiopia 400 000 and Algeria 380 000 54 Indonesia is home to the largest Christian community made up of converts from their former Islamic faith according to various sources since the mid and late 1960s between two million and 2 5 million Muslims converted to Christianity 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 According to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2007 experts estimated that thousands of Muslims in the Western world converted to Christianity annually but were not publicized due to fear of retribution 63 By branches editCatholic Church edit Main article Catholic Church by country Church membership in 2019 was 1 34 billion people 64 18 of the global population at the time increasing from the 1950 figure of 437 million 65 and 654 million in 1970 66 67 On 31 December 2008 membership was 1 166 billion an increase of 11 54 over the same date in 2000 68 and slightly greater than the rate of increase of the world population 10 77 The increase was 33 02 in Africa 68 but only 1 17 in Europe It was 15 91 in Asia 11 39 in Oceania and 10 93 in Americas 68 As a result Catholics were 17 77 of the total population in Africa 63 10 in Americas 3 05 in Asia 39 97 in Europe 26 21 in Oceania and 17 40 of the world population Of the world s Catholics the proportion living in Africa grew from 12 44 in 2000 to 14 84 in 2008 while those living in Europe fell from 26 81 to 24 31 However Catholic numbers have grown in Scandinavia where the Catholics in Nordic dioceses have tripled or even quadrupled For example in Denmark Norway Sweden and Finland 330 000 Catholics have now registered in their dioceses 69 70 Membership of the Catholic Church is attained through baptism 71 and from 1983 to 2009 if someone formally left the Church that fact was noted in the register of the person s baptism Monsignor Vittorio Formenti who compiles the Vatican s yearbook said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L Osservatore Romano that For the first time in history we are no longer at the top Muslims have overtaken us He said that Catholics accounted for 17 4 percent of the world population a stable percentage while Muslims were at 19 2 percent It is true that while Muslim families as is well known continue to make a lot of children Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer the monsignor said 72 though Africa and parts of Asia are the exception If the UN report in 2018 is on target Africa s population will grow to 4 5 billion by 2100 adding to all African religious groups 73 Muslims in 2010 represented as much as 23 4 of the total world population and this is expected to increase to 26 3 by 2030 74 The global Catholic population is projected to grow to 1 63 billion in 2050 75 but by that time Islam will have nearly 3 billion adherents Eastern Orthodoxy edit Main article Eastern Orthodoxy by country Protestantism edit Main article Protestantism by country According to Mark Jurgensmeyer of the University of California popular Protestantism is one of the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world 76 Changes in worldwide Protestantism over the last century have been significant 77 Since 1900 due primarily to conversion Protestantism has spread rapidly in Africa Asia Oceania and Latin America 78 There are more than 900 million Protestants worldwide 1 79 80 81 82 83 84 among approximately 2 4 billion Christians 79 85 86 87 In 2010 a total of more than 800 million included 300 million in Sub Saharan Africa 260 million in the Americas 140 million in Asia Pacific region 100 million in Europe and 2 million in Middle East North Africa 1 Protestants account for nearly forty percent of Christians worldwide and more than one tenth of the total human population 1 Protestantism is growing in Africa Eastern Europe 88 89 Asia 89 90 Latin America 89 91 Muslim world 53 and Oceania 92 while remaining stable or declining in Anglo America 92 and Europe 82 93 with some exceptions such as France 94 where it was nearly eradicated after the abolition of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau and the following persecution of Huguenots but now is claimed to be stable in number or even growing slightly 94 and the Spain where the Protestantism is growing faster than other religious groups 95 96 According to some Russia is another country to see a Protestant revival 97 98 99 According to various scholars and sources Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in the world 14 15 16 17 18 this growth is primarily due to religious conversion to Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity 19 20 According to Pulitzer Center 35 000 people become Pentecostal or Born again every day 31 According to scholar Keith Smith of Georgia State University many scholars claim that Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious phenomenon in human history 32 and according to scholar Peter L Berger of Boston University the spread of Pentecostal Christianity may be the fastest growing movement in the history of religion 32 By continent editSee also Christianity by country According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace the World Christian Database as of 2007 estimated the six fastest growing religions of the world to be Islam 1 84 the Bahaʼi Faith 1 7 Sikhism 1 62 Jainism 1 57 Hinduism 1 52 and Christianity 1 32 High birth rates and conversions in the global South were cited as the reasons for the Christian population growths 100 The U S Center for World Mission stated a growth rate of Christianity at 2 3 for the period 1970 to 1996 slightly higher than the world population growth rate at the time This increased the claimed percentage of adherents of Christianity from 33 7 to 33 9 101 The World Christian Database as of 2007 estimated the growth rate of Christianity at 1 32 High birth rates and conversions were cited as the main reasons 102 Using data from the period 2000 2005 the 2006 Christian World Database estimated that by number of new adherents Christianity was the fastest growing religion in the world with 30 360 000 new adherents in 2006 This was followed by Islam with 23 920 000 and Hinduism with 13 224 000 estimated new adherents in the same period 103 According to 2011 Pew Research Center survey there are more than 2 2 billion Christians around the world in 2010 up from about 600 million in 1910 1 The 2015 Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background A Global Census estimates 10 283 700 Muslim converted to Christianity around the world 53 On 2 April 2015 the Pew Research Center published a Demographic Study about The Future of World Religions Population Growth Projections 2010 2050 with projections regarding Christianity 104 The projection begins with 2010 statistics when Christianity was by far the world s largest religion with an estimated 2 2 billion adherents nearly a third 31 of all 6 9 billion people on Earth Islam was second with 1 6 billion adherents or 23 of the global population 104 Projected growth of Christianity by 2050Some of the projections are as follows 105 Over the 2010 2050 period Christians will remain the largest religious group with 30 7 of the world s population However Islam will grow faster and become 29 7 of the world s population Therefore by 2050 there will be 2 8 billion Muslims compared to 2 9 billion Christians In the United States Christians will decline from more than three quarters of the population in 2010 to two thirds in 2050 Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub Saharan Africa dd Reasons given for the projected growthSome of the reasons the Study gives are as follows 104 The change in the world s religious is driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world s major religions as well as by people switching faiths Fertility rates Religions with many adherents in developing countries where birth rates are high and infant mortality rates generally have been falling are likely to grow quickly Therefore much of the growth of Christianity is projected to take place in sub Saharan Africa Globally Christians have a birth rate of 2 7 children per woman But Muslims have a higher rate namely an average of 3 1 children per woman This differential is one of the reasons that the Muslim population is growing faster than the Christian Size of youth population In 2010 more than a quarter of the world s total population 27 was under the age of 15 Christian youth under 15 were the same as the 27 global average But an even higher percentage of Muslims 34 were younger than 15 This higher youth population is one of the reasons that from 2010 to 2050 Muslims are projected to grow faster than Christians Size of old population In 2010 11 of the world s population was at least 60 years old 14 of the Christian population was over 60 years old but only 7 of Muslims were over 60 This is another reason that Muslims are projected to grow faster than Christians Switching A loss of 66 million Christians is projected to come through switching Most of the loss is projected to come from Christians joining the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated dd The whole Pew Research Center can be read by clicking The Future of World Religions Africa edit Further information Christianity in Africa Christianity has been estimated 1 to be growing rapidly in Latin America Africa and Asia 87 In Africa for instance in 1900 there were only 8 7 million 1 adherents of Christianity now there are 390 million 1 and it is expected that by 2025 there will be 600 million Christians in Africa 1 The number of Catholics in Africa has increased from one million in 1902 to 329 882 000 1 From 2015 to 2016 alone Africa saw an increase of 49 767 000 Catholics a larger increase than any other continent 106 According to scholar Todd Hartch of Eastern Kentucky University by 2005 around 6 million Africans converted to Christianity annually 35 According to scholar R V Dmitriev over 3 3 million African converted to Christianity in 2010 107 A 2015 study estimates 2 161 000 Muslim Africans that convert to Christianity 53 Algeria edit Further information Christianity in Algeria Since 1960 a growing number of Algerian Muslims are converting to Christianity 108 109 110 111 112 Converts to Christianity may be investigated and searched by the authorities 113 Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie especially in the wilaya of Tizi Ouzou 114 A 2015 study estimates 380 000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria 53 Benin edit A 2015 study estimates 40 000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Benin 53 Burkina Faso edit A 2015 study estimates 200 000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Burkina Faso 53 Burundi edit A 2015 study estimates 2 200 Muslims converted to Christianity in Burundi 53 Cameroon edit A 2015 study estimates 90 000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Cameroon 53 Central African Republic edit A 2015 study estimates 1 500 Muslims converted to Christianity in Central African Republic 53 Egypt edit Further information Christianity in Egypt A 2015 study estimates some 14 000 Muslims who converted to Christianity in Egypt 115 Ethiopia edit Further information Christianity in Ethiopia A 2015 study estimates 400 000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Ethiopia most belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church 53 Libya edit Further information Religion in Libya A 2015 study estimated some 1 500 believers in Christ from a Muslim background living in the country 115 Morocco edit Further information Christianity in Morocco Since 1960 a growing number of Moroccan Muslims are converting to Christianity 116 117 118 119 120 On 27 March 2010 the Moroccan magazine TelQuel stated that thousands of Moroccans had converted to Christianity Pointing out the absence of official data Service de presse Common Ground cites unspecified sources that stated that about 5 000 Moroccans became Christians between 2005 and 2010 121 According to the International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 estimate that there may be as many as 8 000 Christian citizens throughout the country but many reportedly do not meet regularly due to fear of government surveillance and social persecution 122 According to different estimates there are about 25 000 45 000 Moroccan Christians of Berber or Arab descent mostly converted from Islam 123 Other sources give a number of a bit more than 1 000 124 A popular Christian program by Brother Rachid has led many former Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East to convert to Christianity His programs have been credited with assisting in the conversion of over 150 000 former Muslims to Christianity in Morocco 125 Nigeria edit Further information Christianity in Nigeria The percentage of Christians in Nigeria grew from 21 4 in 1953 to 48 2 in 2011 40 This is due to the high number of missionaries in Nigeria A 2015 study estimates some 600 000 believers in Christ are from a Muslim background living in Nigeria 115 South Africa edit Further information Christianity in South Africa In South Africa Pentecostalism has grown from 0 2 in 1951 to 7 6 in 2001 126 Tunisia edit Further information Christianity in Tunisia International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimate thousands of Tunisian Muslims who convert to Christianity 127 Americas edit Further information Christianity in North America Further information Religion in South America Argentina edit Further information Religion in Argentina A 2015 study estimates some 2 200 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism 115 128 Data from 2013 show that 64 000 Argentine Jews identify themselves as Christians 129 Canada edit Further information Christianity in Canada According to 1991 2001 2011 Census the number of Christians in Canada has decreased from 22 5 million to 22 1 million A 2015 study estimates some 43 000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in Canada most of whom belong to the evangelical tradition 115 Mexico edit Further information Religion in Mexico According to INEGI The number of Catholics grows annually by 1 7 130 United States edit Further information Christianity in the United States The United States government does not collect religious data in its census The survey below the American Religious Identification Survey ARIS 2008 was a random digit dialed telephone survey of 54 461 American residential households in the contiguous United States The 1990 sample size was 113 723 2001 sample size was 50 281 Adult respondents were asked the open ended question What is your religion if any Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers The religion of the spouse or partner was also asked If the initial answer was Protestant or Christian further questions were asked to probe which particular denomination About one third of the sample was asked more detailed demographic questions Among the Asian population in the United States conversion into Christianity is significantly increasing among Korean Chinese and Japanese 131 By 2012 the percentage of Christians in these communities was 71 31 and 38 respectively 39 Data from the Pew Research Center states that as of 2013 about 1 6 million adult American Jews identify themselves as Christians most as Protestants 132 133 134 According to the same data most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian 1 6 million were raised as Jewish or are Jews by ancestry 133 According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center 19 of those who say they were raised Jewish in the United States consider themselves Christian 135 According to Pew Research Christianity loses more people than it gains from religious conversion It found that 23 of Americans raised as Christians no longer identified with Christianity whereas 6 of current Christians converted 136 This was in contrast to Islam in America where the number of people who leave the religion is roughly equal to the number who convert to it 136 The National Catholic Register claims that in 2015 there were 450 000 American Muslim converts to Christianity and that 20 000 Muslims convert to Christianity annually in the United States 137 According to scholar Rob Scott of University of Tasmania in 2010 there were approximately 180 000 Arab Americans and about 130 000 Iranian Americans who converted from Islam to Christianity 138 Religious Self Identification of the U S Adult Population 1990 2001 2008 139 Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply investigators suspect refusals are possibly more representative of no religion than any other group Source ARIS 2008 139 Group 1990adultsx 1 000 2001adultsx 1 000 2008adultsx 1 000 NumericalChange1990 2008as of 1990 1990 ofadults 2001 of adults 2008 ofadults changein oftotaladults1990 2008Adult population total 175 440 207 983 228 182 30 1 Adult population Responded 171 409 196 683 216 367 26 2 97 7 94 6 94 8 2 9 Total Christian 151 225 159 514 173 402 14 7 86 2 76 7 76 0 10 2 Catholic 46 004 50 873 57 199 24 3 26 2 24 5 25 1 1 2 non Catholic Christian 105 221 108 641 116 203 10 4 60 0 52 2 50 9 9 0 Baptist 33 964 33 820 36 148 6 4 19 4 16 3 15 8 3 5 Mainline Christian 32 784 35 788 29 375 10 4 18 7 17 2 12 9 5 8 Methodist 14 174 14 039 11 366 19 8 8 1 6 8 5 0 3 1 Lutheran 9 110 9 580 8 674 4 8 5 2 4 6 3 8 1 4 Presbyterian 4 985 5 596 4 723 5 3 2 8 2 7 2 1 0 8 Episcopalian Anglican 3 043 3 451 2 405 21 0 1 7 1 7 1 1 0 7 United Church of Christ 438 1 378 736 68 0 0 2 0 7 0 3 0 1 Christian Generic 25 980 22 546 32 441 24 9 14 8 10 8 14 2 0 6 Christian Unspecified 8 073 14 190 16 384 102 9 4 6 6 8 7 2 2 6 Non denominational Christian 194 2 489 8 032 4040 2 0 1 1 2 3 5 3 4 Protestant Unspecified 17 214 4 647 5 187 69 9 9 8 2 2 2 3 7 5 Evangelical Born Again 546 1 088 2 154 294 5 0 3 0 5 0 9 0 6 Pentecostal Charismatic 5 647 7 831 7 948 40 7 3 2 3 8 3 5 0 3 Pentecostal Unspecified 3 116 4 407 5 416 73 8 1 8 2 1 2 4 0 6 Assemblies of God 617 1 105 810 31 3 0 4 0 5 0 4 0 0 Church of God 590 943 663 12 4 0 3 0 5 0 3 0 0 Other Protestant Denominations 4 630 5 949 7 131 54 0 2 6 2 9 3 1 0 5 Churches of Christ 1 769 2 593 1 921 8 6 1 0 1 2 0 8 0 2 Seventh Day Adventist 668 724 938 40 4 0 4 0 3 0 4 0 0 Jehovah s Witnesses 1 381 1 331 1 914 38 6 0 8 0 6 0 8 0 1 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 2 487 2 697 3 158 27 0 1 4 1 3 1 4 0 0 Total non Christian religions 5 853 7 740 8 796 50 3 3 3 3 7 3 9 0 5 Jewish 3 137 2 837 2 680 14 6 1 8 1 4 1 2 0 6 Eastern Religions 687 2 020 1 961 185 4 0 4 1 0 0 9 0 5 Buddhist 404 1 082 1 189 194 3 0 2 0 5 0 5 0 3 Muslim 527 1 104 1 349 156 0 0 3 0 5 0 6 0 3 New Religious Movements amp Others 1 296 1 770 2 804 116 4 0 7 0 9 1 2 0 5 None No religion total 14 331 29 481 34 169 138 4 8 2 14 2 15 0 6 8 Agnostic Atheist 1 186 1 893 3 606 204 0 0 7 0 9 1 6 0 9 Did Not Know Refused to reply 4 031 11 300 11 815 193 1 2 3 5 4 5 2 2 9 Highlights 139 The ARIS 2008 survey was carried out from February November 2008 and collected answers from 54 461 respondents who were questioned in English or Spanish The American population self identifies as predominantly Christian but Americans are slowly becoming less Christian 86 of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76 in 2008 The historic Mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines while the non denominational Christian identity has been trending upward particularly since 2001 The challenge to Christianity in the United States does not come from other religions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion 34 of American adults considered themselves Born Again or Evangelical Christians in 2008 The U S population continues to show signs of becoming less religious with one out of every seven Americans failing to indicate a religious identity in 2008 The Nones no stated religious preference atheist or agnostic continue to grow though at a much slower pace than in the 1990s from 8 2 in 1990 to 14 1 in 2001 to 15 0 in 2008 Asian Americans are substantially more likely to indicate no religious identity than other racial or ethnic groups One sign of the lack of attachment of Americans to religion is that 27 do not expect a religious funeral at their death Based on their stated beliefs rather than their religious identification in 2008 70 of Americans believe in a personal God roughly 12 of Americans are atheist no God or agnostic unknowable or unsure and another 12 are deistic a higher power but no personal God America s religious geography has been transformed since 1990 Religious switching along with Hispanic immigration has significantly changed the religious profile of some states and regions Between 1990 and 2008 the Catholic population proportion of the New England states fell from 50 to 36 and in New York it fell from 44 to 37 while it rose in California from 29 to 37 and in Texas from 23 to 32 Overall the 1990 2008 ARIS time series shows that changes in religious self identification in the first decade of the 21st century have been moderate in comparison to the 1990s which was a period of significant shifts in the religious composition of the United StatesAsia edit Further information Christianity in Asia According to scholar Philip Jenkins Christianity is growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries 30 According to a report by the Singapore Management University more people in Southeast Asia are converting to Christianity and these new converts are mostly Chinese business managers 33 According to scholar Juliette Koning and Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam there is a rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards Singapore China Hong Kong Taiwan Indonesia and Malaysia are said to have the fastest growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are upwardly mobile urban middle class Chinese Asia has the second largest Pentecostal charismatic Christians of any continent with the number growing from 10 million to 135 million between 1970 and 2000 33 Afghanistan edit Further information Christianity in Afghanistan The United States Department of State estimated the numbers of the Muslim Afghan who convert to Christianity between 500 and 8 000 140 141 142 Azerbaijan edit Further information Christianity in Azerbaijan According to reports there is about 5 000 ethnic Azerbaijani Protestant community most of them came from Muslim backgrounds 143 144 145 146 Bangladesh edit Further information Christianity in Bangladesh According to scholars Khalil Bilici during the Bangladesh Liberation War March December 1971 a significant number of Bangladeshis left Islam to join Christianity because missionaries stood with them during their difficult times during the civil strife or to atheism after 1971 due to their experience of oppression conducted by fellow Muslims from West Pakistan 147 A 2015 study estimates some 130 000 Christians from a Muslim background residing in the Bangladesh though not all are necessarily citizens 115 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated the numbers of the Muslim who convert to Christianity in Bangladesh has risen from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand between 1971 and 1991 148 The Home Office estimated that 91 000 Muslims have converted to Christianity in Bangladesh 149 China edit Further information Christianity in China In recent years the number of Chinese Christians has increased significantly particularly since the easing of restrictions on religious activity during economic reforms in the late 1970s Christians were 4 million before 1949 including Catholics and Protestants and reaching 67 million unofficial figure in 2010 1 41 Various statistical analyses have found that between 2 and 4 of the Chinese identify as Christian The government declared in 2018 that there are over 44 million Christians Protestant 38M Catholic 6M in China 150 According to a study by a scholar Fenggang Yang from Purdue University Christianity is spreading among the Chinese of South East Asia and Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is growing more quickly in China 151 also according to him more than half of them have university degrees 151 According to the Council on Foreign Relations the number of Chinese Protestants has grown by an average of 10 percent annually since 1979 152 India edit Further information Christianity in India Christianity is the third largest religion in India after Hinduism and Islam with approximately 30 million followers A 2015 study estimates some 40 000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism or Catholicism 115 While the exact number of Dalit converts to Christianity in India is not available scholar William R Burrow of Colorado State University estimated that about 8 of Dalit have converted to Christianity 153 According to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center Christianity in India gained an increase from conversion most of the Christian converts in India are former Hindus 154 Indonesia edit Further information Christianity in Indonesia According to various sources between 1965 and 1985 about 2 5 million Indonesian converted from Islam to Christianity 56 57 58 155 The Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background A Global Census found that between 1960 and 2015 about 6 5 million Indonesian Muslims convert to Christianity 53 Some reports also show that many of the Chinese Indonesians minority convert to Christianity 156 157 Demographer Aris Ananta reported in 2008 that anecdotal evidence suggests that more Buddhist Chinese have become Christians as they increased their standards of education 158 Iran edit Further information Christianity in Iran Significant numbers of Muslims convert to Christianity in Iran estimates range from 300 000 to 500 000 by various sources 159 160 161 162 163 Other estimates put the numbers between 800 000 and 3 million 164 According to scholar Ladan Boroumand Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world 165 and according to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there Iran while Christianity is growing the fastest 166 and in 2018 up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families and most of these Christians are evangelicals 167 and he adds recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million 168 Christianity is reportedly the fastest growing religion in Iran with an average annual rate of 5 2 169 A 2015 study estimates between 100 000 and 500 000 believers Christians from a Muslim background living in Iran most of them evangelical Christians 115 Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Iranian diaspora 170 Israel edit Further information Christianity in Israel Several thousand Israelis practice Messianic Jewish denominations which are often considered as Christian sects The Messianic Jews usually combine Jewish and Christian practices but do recognize Jesus as the Messiah There are no exact numbers on those communities but it is believed that several hundred to several thousand ethnic Jews belong to this tradition as well as several thousand Israelis of mixed ancestry mostly mixed Jewish and Slavic The Christian population in Israel has increased significantly with the immigration of many mixed families from the former Soviet Union 1989 late 1990s A 2015 study estimates some 300 Christians from a Muslim background in Israel Japan edit Further information Christianity in Japan Christianity is one of several minority religions in Japan accounting for about not more than 1 percent of the population 171 172 173 According to a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2006 Christianity has increased significantly in Japan particularly among youth and a high number of teens are becoming Christians 48 174 175 A 2015 study estimates some 300 Christians from a Muslim background in Japan Jordan edit Further information Religion in Jordan A 2015 study estimates some 6 500 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country most of them belonging to some form of Eastern Orthodoxy 115 Kazakhstan edit Further information Christianity in Kazakhstan In spite of the persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity a 2015 study estimates some 50 000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background residing in the country 115 176 Kuwait edit Further information Religion in Kuwait There are a number of believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country though many are not citizens A 2015 study estimates that around 350 people in the country follow these beliefs 115 Kyrgyzstan edit Further information Christianity in Kyrgyzstan A 2015 study estimates some 19 000 Christians from a Muslim background residing in the country though not all are necessarily citizens of Kyrgyzstan 115 Exact numbers of Muslim Kyrgyz converts to Christianity vary but an estimate of around 20 000 is generally accepted among scholars 177 178 Malaysia edit Further information Christianity in Malaysia There is no well researched agreement on the actual number of Malaysian Muslim converts to Christianity in Malaysia 179 But according to Tan Sri Dr Harussani Zakaria they are 260 000 179 180 Mongolia edit Further information Christianity in Mongolia Oman edit Further information Christianity in Oman A 2015 study estimates a mere 200 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country and not all of those are necessarily citizens 115 Saudi Arabia edit Further information Christianity in Saudi Arabia A 2015 study estimates 60 000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Saudi Arabia 53 Singapore edit Further information Christianity in Singapore The percentage of Christians among Singaporeans increased from 12 7 in 1990 to 17 5 in 2010 181 According to scholar Michael Nai Chiu Poon of University of Toronto conversion to Christianity is increasing among Chinese Singaporeans 182 It s been reported also that increasing numbers of young people or educated people are becoming Christians in Singapore 49 183 51 South Korea edit Further information Christianity in South Korea In South Korea Christianity has grown from 20 7 in 1985 to 29 5 in 2005 according to the World Christian Database 126 184 Syria edit Further information Christianity in Syria A 2015 study estimates some 2 000 Muslims who converted to Christianity in Syria most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism or Oriental Orthodoxy 115 Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Syrian diaspora 185 and among Kurds in Syria 186 By one estimate made by Elisabet Granli from University of Oslo around 1 920 Syrian Druz converted to Christianity 187 Tajikistan edit Further information Christianity in Tajikistan In spite of opposition in relation to conversion from Islam to Christianity a 2015 study estimates some 2 600 to 3 000 Christians with Muslim backgrounds reside in the country 115 188 Turkey edit Further information Christianity in Turkey According to the newspaper Milliyet reports 35 000 Muslim Turks convert into Christianity in 2008 189 190 A 2015 study estimates some 4 500 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in Turkey most of them Turks 115 The ethnic Turkish Protestant Christian community in Turkey number about 4 000 5 000 191 192 193 194 adherents most of them came from Muslim Turkish background 195 196 197 198 Uzbekistan edit Further information Christianity in Uzbekistan A 2015 study estimates some 10 000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country 199 most of them belonging to some sort of evangelical or charismatic Protestant community 53 Vietnam edit Further information Christianity in Vietnam The US Department of State estimates that Protestant Christianity may have grown 600 over the last decade in Vietnam 200 Europe edit Further information Christianity in Europe Albania edit Further information Christianity in Albania Since 1960 a growing number of Albanian Muslims are converting to Christianity 201 202 203 204 205 206 A 2015 study estimated some 13 000 followers of Christ from a Muslim background though it is not clear to which Christian churches these people had converted 115 Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Albanian diaspora 207 203 Belgium edit Further information Christianity in Belgium Reports estimated that many Muslims convert every year to Christianity in Belgium 208 Bulgaria edit Further information Christianity in Bulgaria Reports estimated that thousands of Muslims mostly Bulgarian Turks convert every year to Christianity in Bulgaria 209 210 211 A 2015 study estimates 45 000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism 115 Denmark edit Further information Religion in Denmark There are around 8 000 Christians who have converted from a Muslim background in the country most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism 115 212 213 France edit Further information Christianity in France Protestants have increased as a percentage of total population from 1 in 1987 to 3 in 2009 214 Reports form Le Monde estimated that 15 000 Muslims convert every year to Christianity 215 Some scholars and media reports indicate that there been increasing numbers of conversions to Christianity among the Maghrebis in France 216 217 Georgia edit Further information Christianity in Georgia country More than 20 000 Muslims have converted to Christianity in Georgia Abkhazia 218 Germany edit Further information Christianity in Germany Reports estimated that thousands of Muslims convert every year to Christianity in Germany and vice versa 219 Some scholars and media reports indicate that there been increasing numbers of conversions to Christianity among Kurds and Turks in Germany 220 According to scholars Felix Wilfred from the University of Madras and Chris Hann from the University of Cambridge and Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology since the fall of communism the number of Muslim converts to Christianity in Kyrgyzstan has been increased 221 222 Kosovo edit Further information Christianity in Kosovo Reports estimated that hundreds of Muslims convert every year to Christianity in Kosovo 223 224 225 Norway edit Further information Christianity in Norway It is estimated that Orthodoxy is the fastest growing religious faith in Norway due to immigration from other countries with a growth rate from 2000 to 2009 at 231 1 226 Netherlands edit Further information Christianity in the Netherlands Reports estimated that 4 500 Muslims have converted to Christianity in the Netherlands 227 In recent years a number of Dutch Muslims have converted to Christianity 228 213 Russia edit Further information Christianity in Russia According to Roman Silantyev the executive secretary of the Inter religious Council in Russia about 2 million Muslims in Russia have converted to Christianity between during the last fifteen years while only 2 500 Russians converted to Islam 229 According to a 2012 study 17 of Jews in Russia identify themselves as Christians 230 231 Spain edit Between 1998 and 2018 Protestantism grew from 0 24 to 1 96 of the Spanish population 95 96 Sweden edit Further information Islam in Sweden In recent years a number of Swedish Muslims have converted from Islam to the Church of Sweden most noticeably by Iranians but also by Arabs and Pakistanis 232 233 234 United Kingdom edit Further information Religion in the United Kingdom A 2015 study estimated some 25 000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background most of whom belong to an evangelical or Pentecostal community 115 In recent years a number of Muslims have converted to Christianity in the United Kingdom 235 236 Oceania edit Australia edit A 2015 study estimates some 20 000 Muslim converted to Christianity in Australia most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism 115 See also editMuslim population growth Growth of religion Decline of Christianity in the Western world Christian views on contraception Christian mission Christianity by country Christian emigrationReferences edit a b c d e f g h i j k Pewforum Christianity 2010 PDF Archived from the original PDF on 9 September 2013 Retrieved 2 May 2020 Religion Information Data Explorer GRF www globalreligiousfutures org Retrieved 13 October 2022 The List The World s Fastest Growing Religions Foreign Policy 14 May 2007 Archived from the original on 29 March 2019 Retrieved 11 February 2020 Behind the trend High birthrates and conversions in the global South W Kling David 2020 A History of Christian Conversion Oxford University Press pp 586 587 ISBN 9780195320923 R Ross Kenneth 2017 Christianity in Sub Saharan Africa Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity Edinburgh University Press p 17 ISBN 9781474412049 Woodhea Linda 2004 An Introduction to Christianity Cambridge University Press p 386 ISBN 9780521786553 Growth is related not only to conversion but also to a high rate of population growth Tomalin Emma 2013 Religions and Development Routledge p 6 ISBN 9781136827488 R V Dmitriev 2018 African Studies in Russia Works of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yearbook 2014 2016 MeaBooks Inc p 60 ISBN 9781988391069 Consequently conversion influences the growth of the Christian community to a far greater degree than the Muslim one delivering nearly 29 of the Christian population s annual growth Zach Dawes Jr 13 Feb 2023 Good Faith Media https goodfaithmedia org global christian population projected to reach 3 3 billion by 2050 https www gordonconwell edu wp content uploads sites 13 2023 01 Status of Global Christianity 2023 pdf Global Christianity A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World s Christian Population 19 December 2011 Pew Research Center 18 December 2012 The Global Religious Landscape Christians a b The Future of World Religions Population Growth Projections 2010 2050 Pew Research Center 2 April 2015 a b c Miller Donald E Sargeant Kimon H Flory Richard eds 9 September 2013 Spirit and Power The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism Oxford University Press Scholarship doi 10 1093 acprof oso 9780199920570 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 934563 2 Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in the world a b c Anderson Allan Bergunder Michael Droogers Andre 9 May 2012 Studying Global Pentecostalism Theories and Methods University of California Press Scholarship doi 10 1525 california 9780520266612 001 0001 ISBN 9780520266612 With its remarkable ability to adapt to different cultures Pentecostalism has become the world s fastest growing religious movement a b c Witnessing The New Reach of Pentecostalism The Washington Post 3 August 2002 Pentecostalism is widely recognized by religious scholars as the fastest growing Christian movement in the world reaching into many different denominations a b c Canadian Pentecostalism McGill Queen s University Press 9 February 2009 One of the most significant transformations in twentieth century Christianity is the emergence and development of Pentecostalism With over five hundred million followers it is the fastest growing movement in the world An incredibly diverse movement it has influenced many sectors of Christianity flourishing in Africa Latin America and Asia and having an equally significant effect on Canada a b c A Elwell Walter 2017 Evangelical Dictionary of Theology Baker Academic ISBN 9781493410774 Pentecostalism arguably has been the fastest growing religious movement in the contemporary world a b c Protestantism The fastest growing religion in the developing world The Manila Times 18 November 2017 At the heart of this religious resurgence are Islam and Pentecostalism a branch of Protestant Christianity Islam grew at an annual average of 1 9 percent between 2000 and 2017 mainly as the result of a high birth rate Pentecostalism grew at 2 2 percent each year mainly by conversion Half of developing world Christians are Pentecostal evangelical or charismatic all branches of the faith emphasize the authority of the Bible and the need for a spiritual rebirth Why are people so attracted to it a b c The Economist The Economists 18 November 2017 Pentecostalism grew at 2 2 percent each year mainly by conversion Half of developing world Christians are Pentecostal evangelical or charismatic a href Template Cite magazine html title Template Cite magazine cite magazine a Cite magazine requires magazine help a b Barrett David B Kurian George Thomas Johnson Todd M eds 15 February 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia p 360 Oxford University Press USA ISBN 0195079639 a b c d Rambo Lewis Ray Farhadian Charles E eds 2014 The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion p 59 Oxford University Press ISBN 9780195338522 The Future of World Religions Population Growth Projections 2010 2050 PDF Archived from the original PDF on 29 April 2015 Retrieved 6 June 2016 The Changing Global Religious Landscape Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project 5 April 2017 Retrieved 23 April 2020 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division 2007 United Nations World Population Prospects 2006 revision Table A 15 PDF New York UN Retrieved 7 December 2009 Charles E Farhadian www amazon com Retrieved 27 November 2020 Rambo Lewis Ray 1993 Understanding Religious Conversion Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 06515 2 Rambo Lewis Ray Farhadian Charles E eds 2014 The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion p 58 Oxford University Press ISBN 9780195338522 https wayback archive it org all 20150429153811 http www pewforum org files 2015 03 PF 15 04 02 ProjectionsFullReport pdf bare URL PDF a b The Next Christendom The Rise of Global Christianity New York Oxford University Press 2002 270 pp a b Pentecostalism Massive Global Growth Under the Radar Pulitzer Center 9 March 2015 Massive Growth Under the Radar Each day 35 000 people are born again through baptism with the Holy Spirit a b c d Max Weber and Pentecostals in Latin America The Protestant Ethic Social Capital and Spiritual Capital Ethic Social Capital and Spiritual Capital Georgia State University 9 May 2016 The spread of Pentecostal Christianity may be the fastest growing movement in the history of religion Berger 2009 a b c d Understanding the rapid rise of Charismatic Christianity in Southeast Asia Singapore Management University 27 October 2017 China plans establishment of Christian theology China Chinadaily com cn www chinadaily com cn a b Hartch Todd 2014 The Rebirth of Latin American Christianity Oxford University Press p 1 ISBN 9780199365142 Yoo David Chung Ruth H 2008 Religion and spirituality in Korean America University of Illinois Press ISBN 978 0 252 07474 5 Zhang Han 11 February 2016 Leave China Study in America Find Jesus Niiya Brian 1993 Japanese American History An A To Z Reference from 1868 to the Present VNR AG p 28 ISBN 9780816026807 a b Japanese Americans Pew Forum on Religion amp Public Life Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 17 March 2015 a b Global Christianity Regional Distribution of Christians Pew Research Center 19 December 2011 Retrieved 11 August 2013 a b Miller 2006 pp 185 186 Why the Chinese government is targeting young Christians in its latest crackdown America magazine 14 May 2018 A study of the religious lives of university students in Beijing published in a mainland Chinese academic journal Science and Atheism in 2013 showed Christianity to be the religion that interested students most and the most active on campuses It concluded there was a religious fever in society and religious forces were infiltrating colleges With the support of overseas religious forces it said there was a rapid growth in Christianity among university students It said Christian fellowships on campus mostly refused to succumb to the leadership of the state backed churches and thus posed a problem in the government s administration of religious affairs Conversions to Christianity Among Highly Educated Chinese Training leaders 14 May 2018 Tan Chee beng 2014 After Migration And Religious Affiliation Religions Chinese Identities And Transnational Networks World Scientific p XXV ISBN 9789814590013 They also point out that more educated migrants and those from Hong Kong are more likely to become Christians than those from mainland China Religion and Education in Indonesia PDF Gavin W Jones 30 January 2017 Finally during this century there has been a rapid growth in the number of Chinese Christians Very few Chinese were Christians at the turn of the century Today Christians constitute approximately 10 or 15 percent of the Chinese population in Indonesia and probably a higher percentage among the young Conversion of Chinese to Christianity accelerated in the 1960s especially in East Java and for Indonesia as a whole the proportion of Chinese who were Catholics rose from 2 percent in 1957 to 6 percent in 19 Taher Amir 2020 The Persian Night Iran Under the Khomeinist Revolution Encounter Books p 343 ISBN 9781594034794 The reason is that a growing number of Iranians especially the young are converting to Zoroastrianism or Christianity Report Iran Christian converts and house churches 1 prevalence and conditions for religious practice Translation provided by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons Belgium PDF Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons Belgium 22 February 2009 P 15 Chiaramonte 2016 that it is young people in particular who convert to Christianity in today s Iran a b W Robinson David 2012 International Handbook of Protestant Education Springer Science amp Business Media p 521 ISBN 9789400723870 A 2006 Gallup survey however is the largest to date and puts the number at 6 which is much higher than its previous surveys It notes a major increase among Japanese youth professing Christ a b S Chin Clive 2017 The Perception of Christianity as a Rational Religion in Singapore A Missiological Analysis of Christian Conversione Routledge p 166 ISBN 9781498298094 This socio demographic characterizes Christian converts as mostly 2 well educated 3 belonging in higher income brackets 4 switching their religion between ten and twenty nine years of age Religious Revival Among Chinese in Singapore PDF SSA1201 Assignment 14 May 2018 Converts to Christianity tend to come from the young educated English speaking Chinese generation a b Goh Daniel P S 21 April 2010 State and Social Christianity in Post colonial Singapore Sojourn Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 25 1 Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 54 89 doi 10 1355 SJ25 1C JSTOR 41308136 S2CID 144235936 Christianity has flourished in post colonial Singapore especially attracting conversions from among young urbanized and English educated Sukman Jang 2004 Historical Currents and Characteristics of Korean Protestantism after Liberation Korea Journal 44 4 133 156 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Miller Duane A Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background A Global Census Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion via academia edu a b c d The Perilous Path from Muslim to Christian The National Interest 12 June 2021 Reports of widespread conversions of Muslims to Christianity come from regions as disparate as Algeria Albania Syria and Kurdistan Countries with the largest indigenous numbers include Algeria 380 000 Ethiopia 400 000 Iran 500 000 versus only 500 in 1979 Nigeria 600 000 and Indonesia an astounding 6 500 000 The Perilous Path from Muslim to Christian The National Interest 12 June 2021 MBBs also live in the West with the United States hosting by far the most 450 000 and Bulgaria the most in Europe 45 000 a b Anderson Allan 2013 An Introduction to Pentecostalism Global Charismatic Christianity Cambridge University Press p 145 ISBN 9781107033993 estimated that over 2 million Javanese Muslims became Christians between 1965 and 1971 and Pentecostal churches gained the most members a b Samuel Shah Timothy 2016 Christianity and Freedom Volume 2 Contemporary Perspectives Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781316565247 Between 1966 and 1976 some 2 million ethnic Javanese from nominally Islamic backgrounds converted to Christianity a b Madinier Remy 2011 The Politics of Religion in Indonesia Syncretism Orthodoxy and Religious Contention in Java and Bali Routledge p 86 ISBN 9781136726408 Between 1966 and 1976 almost two million ethnic Javanese most from abangan Islamic backgrounds converted to Christianity Bresnan John 2005 Indonesia The Great Transition Rowman amp Littlefield p 107 ISBN 9780742540118 Between 1966 and 1976 almost 2 million ethnic Javanese most from nominally Islamic backgrounds converted to Christianity Another 250 000 to 400 000 became Hindu P Daniels Timothy 2017 Sharia Dynamics Islamic Law and Sociopolitical Processes Springer p 102 ISBN 9783319456928 almost two million nominal Muslims to convert to Christianity Madan T N 2011 Sociological Traditions Methods and Perspectives in the Sociology of India SAGE Publications India p 53 ISBN 9788132107699 Simultaneously a considerable number of muslims about 2 million converted to Christianity and Hinduism a most unique event L Berger Peter 2018 The Limits Of Social Cohesion Conflict And Mediation In Pluralist Societies Routledge p 53 ISBN 9780429975950 Some 2 million nominally Islamic Javanese reacted against the violence of their Muslim brethren by converting to Christianity Religious Conversion and Sharia Law Council on Foreign Relations 6 June 2007 In the West experts estimate thousands of Muslims switch to Christianity every year but keep their conversions secret for fear of retribution Converts from Islam especially those who become involved in Christian ministries often use assumed names or only their first names in order to protect themselves and their families writes Daveed Gartenstein Ross a Washington based terrorism analyst in Commentary Vatican Priest numbers show steady moderate increase Catholic News Service 2 March 2009 Retrieved 9 March 2008 Froehle pp 4 5 Bazar Emily 16 April 2008 Immigrants Make Pilgrimage to Pope USA Today Retrieved 3 May 2008 Bazar Emily 16 April 2008 Immigrants Make Pilgrimage to Pope USA Today Retrieved 3 May 2008 a b c World s Catholic population steady Catholic Culture org 13 May 2013 Retrieved 13 May 2013 Catholic numbers grow in Scandinavia The Tablet 20 September 2014 31 Number of Catholics on the Rise Zenit News Agency 27 April 2010 Archived from the original on 27 July 2010 Retrieved 2 May 2010 For greater details on numbers of Catholics and priests and their distribution by continent and for changes between 2000 and 2008 see Annuario Statistico della Chiesa dell anno 2008 Holy See Press Office 27 April 2010 Retrieved 2 May 2010 permanent dead link in Italian Code of Canon Law canon 11 Archived 13 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 9 March 2008 Vatican Islam Surpasses Roman Catholicism as World s Largest Religion Europe News Fox News Channel 30 March 2008 Archived from the original on 18 September 2009 Retrieved 1 April 2010 Ross Douthat Fear of a Black Continent The New York Times 21 October 2018 9 The Future of the Global Muslim Population Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project 27 January 2011 Todd M Johnson Gina A Zurlo Albert W Hickman and Peter F Grossing Christianity 2016 Latin America and Projecting Religions to 2050 International Bulletin of Mission Research 2016 Vol 40 1 22 29 Juergensmeyer Mark 3 November 2005 Religion in Global Civil Society Oxford University Press ISBN 9780198040699 via Google Books Hillerbrand Hans J Encyclopedia of Protestantism 4 volume Set p 1815 Observers carefully comparing all these figures in the total context will have observed the even more startling finding that for the first time ever in the history of Protestantism Wider Protestants will by 2050 have become almost exactly as numerous as Roman Catholics each with just over 1 5 billion followers or 17 percent of the world with Protestants growing considerably faster than Catholics each year Melton J Gordon 22 October 2005 Encyclopedia of Protestantism Infobase Publishing ISBN 9780816069835 via Google Books a b Christianity 2015 Religious Diversity and Personal Contact PDF gordonconwell edu January 2015 Archived from the original PDF on 25 May 2017 Retrieved 29 May 2015 Hillerbrand Hans J 2 August 2004 Encyclopedia of Protestantism Routledge ISBN 9781135960285 Retrieved 14 February 2015 CCC Global Statistics Archived from the original on 22 September 2015 Retrieved 23 April 2015 a b Clarke Peter B Beyer Peter 7 May 2009 The World s Religions Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9781135211004 Retrieved 14 February 2015 Brown Stephen F Palmer Martin 2009 Protestantism Infobase ISBN 9781604131123 Retrieved 14 February 2015 Noll Mark A 25 August 2011 Protestantism A Very Short Introduction OUP Oxford ISBN 9780191620133 Retrieved 14 February 2015 33 39 of 7 174 billion world population under the section People and Society World CIA world facts 7 December 2022 Major Religions Ranked by Size Adherents com Archived from the original on 16 August 2000 Retrieved 5 May 2009 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link a b ANALYSIS 19 December 2011 Global Christianity Pewforum org Retrieved 17 August 2012 Study Christianity growth soars in Africa USA Today 20 December 2011 Retrieved 14 February 2015 a b c Ostling Richard N 24 June 2001 The Battle for Latin America s Soul Time Retrieved 14 February 2015 In China Protestantism s Simplicity Yields More Converts Than Catholicism International Business Times 28 March 2012 Retrieved 14 February 2015 Arsenault Chris Evangelicals rise in Latin America Retrieved 14 February 2015 a b Witte John Alexander Frank S 2007 The Teachings of Modern Protestantism on Law Politics and Human Nature Columbia University Press ISBN 9780231142632 Retrieved 14 February 2015 Halman Loek Riis Ole 2003 Religion in a Secularizing Society BRILL ISBN 9004126228 Retrieved 14 February 2015 a b Sengers Erik Sunier Thijl 2010 Religious Newcomers and the Nation State Eburon Uitgeverij B V ISBN 9789059723986 Retrieved 14 February 2015 a b Religious Beliefs of the population residing in Spain Spain Justice Ministry s Observatory of Religious Pluralism Retrieved 22 December 2023 a b A surge of evangelicals in Spain fueled by Latin Americans The Independent 4 January 2022 Retrieved 22 December 2023 Moscow Church Spearheads Russia Revival Retrieved 14 February 2015 Protestantism in Postsoviet Russia An Unacknowledged Triumph PDF Corley Felix Fagan Geraldine 10 June 2002 Growing Protestants Catholics Draw Ire ChristianityToday com Retrieved 14 February 2015 Staff May 2007 The List The World s Fastest Growing Religions Foreign Policy Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Christianity Growth rate 1 38 percent Adherents 2 2 billion Behind the trend High birthrates and conversions in the global South Growth Rate of Christianity amp Islam Which will be the dominant religion in the future The List The World s Fastest Growing Religions Foreign Policy Carnegie Endowment for International Peace May 2007 Archived from the original on 11 July 2018 Retrieved 6 March 2017 What is the fastest growing religion in the world A Secularist Evaluation FastestGrowingReligion tk 2008 Retrieved 12 September 2008 a b c World Religions Population Growth Projections 2010 2050 2015 Retrieved 18 September 2016 World Religions Population Growth Projections 2010 2050 2015 Retrieved 18 September 2016 Fides Agenzia Vatican Catholic Church Statistics 2018 Agenzia Fides fides org Retrieved 8 February 2019 R V Dmitriev 2018 African Studies in Russia Works of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yearbook 2014 2016 MeaBooks Inc p 60 ISBN 9781988391069 Kabylia Christian Churches Closed by Algerian Authorities Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization 28 May 2019 Since 2000 thousands of Algerian Muslims have put their faith in Christ Algerian officials estimate the number of Christians at 50 000 but others say it could be twice that number Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 30 June 2015 Archived from the original on 15 July 2021 Retrieved 27 October 2022 there is an estimated 20 000 to 100 000 evangelical Christians in Algeria who practice their faith in mainly unregistered churches in the Kabyle region P S Rowe Paul 2018 Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East Routledge p 133 ISBN 9781317233794 U S Report on Religious Freedom in Middle East Wilson Center 30 May 2013 some Algerian Muslims who converted to Christianity kept a low profile due to concern for their personal safety and potential legal and social problem Chapman Colin 2012 Christians in the Middle East Past Present and Future Sage Publications Inc p 5 ISBN 9781608991167 many as 20 000 to 40 000 Algerians mostly Berbers who have become Christian Echorouk Online A postal executive in Tlemcen province under security investigation into the shady circumstances surrounding his decision to embrace Christianity Archived from the original on 24 July 2011 Retrieved 3 January 2011 in French Sadek Lekdja Christianity in Kabylie Radio France Internationale 7 mai 2001 Archived 4 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Johnstone Patrick amp Miller Duane Alexander 2015 Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background A Global Census Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 11 10 1 19 Carnes Nat 2012 Al Maghred the Barbary Lion A Look at Islam University of Cambridge Press p 253 ISBN 9781475903423 In all an estimated 40 000 Moroccans have converted to Christianity House Churches and Silent Masses The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret VICE News 23 March 2015 Converted Moroccans most of them secret worshippers of whom there are estimated to be anywhere between 5 000 and 40 000 Morocco s hidden Christians to push for religious freedom AfricanNews 30 January 2017 There are no official statistics but leaders say there are about 50 000 Moroccan Christians most of them from the Protestant Evangelical tradition MOROCCO2019INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT PDF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT 30 January 2019 the Moroccan Association of Human Rights estimates there are 25 000 Christian citizens One media source reported that while most Christians in the country are foreigners there are an estimated 8 000 Christian citizens and that several thousand citizens have converted mostly to Protestant churches Morocco s Christian converts emerge from the shadows Time of Israel 30 April 2017 Converts to Christianity form a tiny minority of Moroccans While no official statistics exist the US State Department estimates their numbers at between 2 000 and 6 000 Refugees United Nations High Commissioner for Refworld Morocco General situation of Muslims who converted to Christianity and specifically those who converted to Catholicism their treatment by Islamists and the authorities including state protection 2008 2011 Refworld International Religious Freedom Report for 2011 Morocco Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor House Churches and Silent Masses The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret vice com 23 March 2015 Maroc La conversion de musulmans au christianisme souleve la colere dans le pays Osservatorio Internazionale La tentazione di Cristo April 2010 a b Religious Demographic Profiles Pew Forum Archived from the original on 21 April 2010 International Religious Freedom Report 2007 Tunisia United States Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor 14 September 2007 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Newman Barbara 2005 Lightning Out of Lebanon Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil Random House Publishing Group ISBN 9780345481856 Many of the minority of Muslims who came in this wave married Argentinean women and converted to Catholicism World Jewish Population 2013 Aciprensa Catholic News Agency Asian Americans A Mosaic of Faiths Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project 19 July 2012 Retrieved 15 May 2018 How many Jews are there in the United States Pew Research Center a b A Portrait of Jewish Americans Chapter 1 Population Estimates Pew Research Center October 2013 American Jewish Population Rises to 6 8 Million haaretz Jewish Americans in 2020 Pew Research Center 11 May 2021 That means that one third of those raised Jewish or by Jewish parent s are not Jewish today either because they identify with a religion other than Judaism including 19 who consider themselves Christian or because they do not currently identify as Jewish either by religion or aside from religion a b Islam gains about as many converts as it loses in U S Why Are Millions of Muslims Becoming Christian Archived from the original on 26 July 2017 Retrieved 13 February 2017 Scott Rob 2017 Mount Taylor University of Tasmania Press ISBN 9781387230914 Although approximately 20 000 Muslims convert to Christianity annually In 2010 were approximately 180 000 and about 130 000 Iranian Americans who converted from Islam to Christianity permanent dead link a b c Kosmin Barry A Keysar Ariela 2009 American Religious Identification Survey ARIS 2008 PDF Hartford Connecticut USA Trinity College Archived from the original PDF on 7 April 2009 Retrieved 1 April 2009 USSD Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor 2009 International Religious Freedom Report 2009 Archived from the original on 30 November 2009 Retrieved 6 March 2010 A El Shafie Majed 2012 Freedom Fighter One Man s Fight for One Free World Destiny Image Publishers ISBN 9780768487732 It estimated the Afghan Christian community ranges from 500 to 8 000 people For all practical purposes there are no native Afghan Christians they are all converts from Islam who worship in secret to avoid being killed for apostasy The 2011 International Religious Freedom Repor University of California Press 2018 p 86 ISBN 9780160905346 all indigenous Christians whose numbers are impossible to determine but have been estimated by the State Department at 500 8 000 are converts from Islam 5 000 Azerbaijanis adopted Christianity in Russian Day az 7 July 2007 Retrieved 30 January 2012 Christian Missionaries Becoming Active in Azerbaijan in Azerbaijani Tehran Radio 19 June 2011 Archived from the original on 19 February 2014 Retrieved 12 August 2012 Aras Bulent 1999 Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region Greenwood Publishing Group p 166 ISBN 9780275963958 According to Iranian sources in Baku Western religious front associations have converted some 5 000 Azerbaijanis to various Christian evangelical denominations since 1991 Monnier F le 2009 Rivista di studi politici internazionali Facolta di scienze politiche Cesare Alfieri p 69 ISBN 9780275963958 the 1990s these front organizations succeeded in converting some 5 000 Azeris to various Christian evangelical Khalil Mohammad Hassan Bilici Mucahit January 2007 Conversion Out of Islam A Study of Conversion Narratives of Former Muslims PDF The Muslim World 97 111 124 doi 10 1111 j 1478 1913 2007 00161 x hdl 2027 42 72141 via deepblue lib umich edu The treatment of Christians in Bangladesh PDF Refugee Review Tribunal Australia 23 November 2006 In the last thirty years there has been an increase in the number of Muslims converting to Christianity According to one estimate in the period between 1971 and 1991 the number of Christian converts in Bangladesh has risen from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand Country Policy and Information Note Bangladesh Religious minorities and atheists Home Office 23 October 2018 Archived from the original on 15 July 2021 Retrieved 27 October 2022 it is estimated that as many as 91 000 Muslims across Bangladesh have converted to Christianity in the last six years 中国保障宗教信仰自由的政策和实践 白皮书 全文 3 April 2018 Archived from the original on 8 May 2018 Retrieved 2 May 2020 a b Yang Fenggang 20 January 2017 Chinese Conversion to Evangelical Christianity The Importance of Social and Cultural Contexts Sociology of Religion 59 3 Oxford University Press 237 257 doi 10 2307 3711910 JSTOR 3711910 Christianity in China Council on Foreign Relations R Burrow William 2009 Redemption And Dialogue Wipf and Stock Publishers p 201 ISBN 9781608991167 Indians say it is important to respect all religions but major religious groups see little in common and want to live separately Pew Research Center 29 June 2021 For Christians however there are some net gains from conversion Barrett David B Kurian George Thomas Johnson Todd M eds 15 February 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia p 374 Oxford University Press USA ISBN 0195079639 In Indonesia Lunar New Year an old practice for young Christians Archived from the original on 28 November 2011 Retrieved 15 August 2011 Brazier Roderick 27 April 2006 Opinion In Indonesia the Chinese go to church Published 2006 The New York Times In Indonesia Lunar New Year an old practice for young Christians Agence France Presse 7 February 2008 Archived from the original on 28 November 2011 Retrieved 15 August 2011 Report Iran Christian converts and house churches 1 prevalence and conditions for religious practice Translation provided by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons Belgium PDF Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons Belgium 22 February 2009 In his research article Miller 2015 p 71 points to an anonymous but the well informed source that estimated that in 2010 there were about 100 000 converts in Iran estimated the number of Christian ethnic Persians to be about 175 000 these were claimed to be converts of Shiite Muslim background Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic Journal of Democracy 22 January 2020 Our second mother Iran s converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany The Guardian 12 May 2014 The underground nature of the Christian conversion movement has made numbers impossible to determine accurately Estimates range from 300 000 to 500 000 by various sources 2019 Report on International Religious Freedom Iran United States Department of State 12 May 2019 estimates citing figures lower than 10 000 and others such as Open Doors USA citing numbers above 800 000 Many Protestants and converts to Christianity from Islam reportedly practice in secret Are Iran s Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani s demise The Jerusalem Post 7 February 2018 Conservative estimates place the number of Christians in Iran between 500 000 to 800 000 believers but others claim there are more than one million Traditionally Christian families amount to around 250 000 while the remainder consists of converts from Islam Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house church movement which Iran considers to be illegal Meanwhile according to Islamic and Iranian law conversion from Islam is a capital offense Iran Christians and Christian converts Department of Justice Home Office 20 February 2020 Archived from the original on 1 November 2020 Retrieved 27 October 2022 Open Doors interviewed by the UK Home Office on 8 August 2017 stated that many converts do not publicly report their faith due to persecution so it is difficult to record the exact numbers of Iranian Christian converts Open Doors believes the number to be 800 000 although this is a conservative estimate Other estimates put the number between 400 000 500 000 right up to 3 million A March 2019 US Congressional Research Service report on Iran put the 300 000 Iranians Turn Away from the Islamic Republic Journal of Democracy 20 January 2020 Iran s Christian Boom JewishPress 29 June 2021 Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University wrote last year about Iran that Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there while Christianity is growing the fastest America Must Focus on Religious Persecution against Iranian Christian Converts providence 3 August 2020 Speaking of faith and Iran most people think of Islam Yet Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there while Christianity is growing the fastest According to a report by the Department of State from 2018 up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families and most of these Christians are evangelicals Recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between one million and three million This is up from 100 000 in 1994 and a majority of these converts are reportedly women A recent documentary Sheep among Wolves documents the lives of these converts and shows how Iran is the fastest growing church in the world America Must Focus on Religious Persecution against Iranian Christian Converts providence 3 August 2020 Recent estimates claim that the number might have climbed up to somewhere between one million and three million Religion and Religious Freedom Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 19 March 2015 Miller Duane Alexander January 2012 Iranian Diaspora Christians in the American Midwest amp Scotland Historical Background Present Realities amp Future Challenges Global Missiology 9 2 1 9 Archived from the original on 10 January 2014 Retrieved 16 November 2012 Kato Mariko 24 February 2009 Christianity s long history in the margins Japan Times The Christian community itself counts only those who have been baptized and are currently regular churchgoers some 1 million people or less than 1 percent of the population according to Nobuhisa Yamakita moderator of the United Church of Christ in Japan Christians use English to reach Japanese youth Mission Network News 3 September 2007 Archived from the original on 11 June 2010 Retrieved 27 December 2018 The population of Japan is less than one percent Christian Heide Fehrenbach Uta G Poiger 2000 Transactions transgressions transformations American culture in Western Europe and Japan Berghahn Books p 62 ISBN 1 57181 108 7 followers of the Christian faith constitute only about a half percent of the Japanese population After fatalism Japan opens to faith mercatornet 17 October 2007 Archived from the original on 20 July 2021 Retrieved 27 October 2022 The 2006 Gallup poll however disclosed that an astounding 12 per cent of Japanese who claim a religion are now Christian making six per cent of the entire nation Christian R McDermott Gerald 2014 Handbook of Religion A Christian Engagement with Traditions Teachings and Practices Baker Academic ISBN 9781441246004 Radford David 2015 Religious Identity and Social Change Explaining Christian conversion in a Muslim world Routledge ISBN 9781317691716 Today it is possible to speak of thousand of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs converted to Protestantism This new phenomenon has clashed with the common belief that all native people must be Muslim Akcali Pinar 2013 Politics Identity and Education in Central Asia Post Soviet Kyrgyzstan Routledge ISBN 9781135627676 Religion and the Secular State in Kyrgyzstan PDF The Central Asia Caucasus Institute amp Silk Road Studies 20 June 2020 P 25 By the early 2000s some scholars estimated the total number of Kyrgyz converts to Christianity to about 25 000 a b Ahmad Farouk Musa Mohd Radziq Jalaluddin Ahmad Fuad Rahmat Edry Faizal Eddy Yusuf 22 October 2011 What is Himpun about The Star Retrieved 16 December 2011 RChinyong Liow Joseph 2016 Religion and Nationalism in Southeast Asia Cambridge University Press p 142 ISBN 9781107167728 Harussani Zakaria publicly fulminated that up to 260 000 Muslims in Malaysia had left the faith and converted to Christianity Better educated S pore residents look to religion asiaone com Nai Chiu Poon Michael 2010 Christian Movements in Southeast Asia A Theological Exploration Trinity Theological College Singapore pp 60 61 ISBN 9789814305150 The social influence of Christianity however extends far beyond its membership especially in the sphere of education giving Christianity a middle class identity Conversion is increasing among Chinese in Singapore both into Christianity and into Buddhism Religious Revival Among Chinese in Singapore PDF SSA1201 Assignment 14 May 2018 Converts to Christianity tend to come from the young educated English speaking Chinese generation Presidential Election in South Korea Highlights Influence of Christian Community Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project 12 December 2007 The Muslim refugees converting to Christianity to find safety Telegraph 30 January 2017 Christianity grows in Syrian town once besieged by Islamic State Reuters 16 April 2019 A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani Granli Elisabet 2011 Religious conversion in Syria Alawite and Druze believers University of Oslo Abdullaev Kamoludin 2018 Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan Rowman amp Littlefield p 370 ISBN 9781538102527 In 2016 the government estimated the number of Christian converts at up to 3 000 persons Topix topix com Fearing a new holy empire Just when Turks are worried about Christians here comes the Pope Maclean s 4 December 2006 Archived from the original on 19 July 2021 Retrieved 27 October 2022 More tangibly figures published in January 2004 in Turkey s mainstream Milliyet newspaper claimed that 35 000 Muslims the vast majority of them in Istanbul had converted to Christianity in 2003 While impossible to confirm the Turkish government does not release these figures the rate of conversion according to Christian leaders in Turkey is on the rise International Institute for Religious Freedom Single Post Iirf eu Archived from the original on 29 July 2017 Retrieved 11 August 2015 report MRG international 2007 A Quest for Equality Minorities in Turkey Minority Rights Group International p 13 ISBN 9781904584636 The estimated number of Protestants in Turkey is 3 000 10 000 most of whom live in Istanbul Ankara and Izmir Protestantism has been a part of Turkey s history for 200 years first spreading among the non Muslim minorities Conversion from Islam to Protestantism was very rare until the 1960s but Muslim converts currently constitute the majority of Protestants White Jenny 2014 Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks Updated Edition Princeton University Press p 82 ISBN 9781400851256 a number that vastly exceeds the size of present day Turkish speaking Protestant churches of whose 3 000 members are converts from Islam Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey Der Spiegel 23 April 2007 The liberal newspaper Radikal estimates that there are about 10 000 converts in Turkey expressing surprise that they could be seen as a threat in a country of 73 million people 99 percent of whom are Muslim Luxmoore Jonathan 4 March 2011 Turkish Protestants still face long path to religious freedom The Christian Century Retrieved 11 August 2015 Turkey Christians in eastern Turkey worried despite church opening Hurriyet Daily News 20 July 2011 Retrieved 11 August 2015 White Jenny 27 April 2014 Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks Jenny White Princeton University Press ISBN 9781400851256 Retrieved 11 August 2015 Turkey Protestant church closed down Church in Chains Ireland An Irish voice for suffering persecuted Christians Worldwide Churchinchains ie 3 October 2014 Archived from the original on 22 August 2016 Retrieved 11 August 2015 Mvan Gorder Christian 2018 Muslim Christian Relations in Central Asia Routledge p 17 ISBN 9781135971694 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2005 Vietnam U S Department of State 30 June 2005 Retrieved 11 March 2007 The Perilous Path from Muslim to Christian The National Interest 12 June 2021 Reports of widespread conversions of Muslims to Christianity come from regions as disparate as Algeria Albania Syria and Kurdistan GOD IN THE LAND OF THE MERCEDES THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN ALBANIA SINCE 1990 Nathalie CLAYER 22 November 2007 P 19 A part of the Muslims in emigration are directly or indirectly induced to convert to Catholicism or Orthodoxy a b Blumi Isa Krasniqi Gezim 2014 Albanians Islam In Cesari Jocelyne ed The Oxford Handbook of European Islam Oxford Oxford University Press pp 480 482 ISBN 9780191026409 De Rapper Gilles 2005 Better than Muslims Not as Good as Greeks Emigration as Experienced and Imagined by the Albanian Christians of Lunxheri In King Russell Mai Nicola Schwandner Sievers Stephanie eds The New Albanian Migration Brighton Portland Sussex Academic p 210 ISBN 9781903900789 Kokkali Ifigeneia 2015 Albanian Immigrants in the Greek City Spatial Invisibility and Identity Management as a Strategy of Adaptation In Vermeulen Hans Baldwin Edwards Martin Van Boeschoten Riki eds Migration in the Southern Balkans From Ottoman Territory to Globalized Nation States Cham Springer Open pp 129 134 135 ISBN 9783319137193 P Chall Leo 1998 Sociological Abstracts Michigan University Press p 3844 In 1990 as the situation began to worsen many Muslim Albanians contemplated a mass conversion to Catholicism GOD IN THE LAND OF THE MERCEDES THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN ALBANIA SINCE 1990 Nathalie CLAYER 22 November 2007 P 19 A part of the Muslims in emigration are directly or indirectly induced to convert to Catholicism or Orthodoxy In Europe many Muslims renounce Islam embrace Christianity Report oneindia com 20 November 2014 Structure of the population by confession NSI Archived from the original on 25 December 2009 Retrieved 6 June 2016 Ethnic minority communities NSI Archived from the original on 24 August 2017 Retrieved 6 June 2016 Urban culture religious conversion and crossing ethnic fluidity among the Bulgarian Muslims Pomaks New Bulgarian University 5 March 2015 Numerous cases of conversion from Islam to Orthodox Christianity are just one of the ways to express the changes in the fluid identity of Bulgarian Muslims Pomaks in Bulgaria after 1990 Islam in Denmark an historical overview Nordic info 4 April 2019 Conversion to Christianity also surfaced not least among the group of refugees arriving from the early 1980s from different areas in the Muslim world hit by civil wars or inter state conflicts a b Visser Nadette De 25 May 2016 Why Are So Many Muslim Refugees in Europe Suddenly Finding Jesus The Daily Beast In the Netherlands and Denmark as well many are converting from Islam to Christianity and the trend appears to be growing Indeed converts are filling up some European churches largely forsaken by their old Christian flocks IFOP press document retrieved 4 March 2013 Zee News Latest News Live Breaking News Today News India Political News Updates Zee News Fahlbusch Erwin Bromiley Geoffrey William Lochman Jan Milic Mbiti John Pelikan Jaroslav Vischer Lukas Barrett David B 2003 The Encyclopedia of Christianity J O Wm B Eerdmans ISBN 9780802824158 M Davis Stephen 2020 Rise of French Laicite French Secularism from the Reformation to the Twenty first Century Wipf and Stock Publishers p 199 ISBN 9781725264090 Richard Kronk has extensively researched Muslim conversion in France He provides examples of the challenges faced by Muslim converts to Christianity His research primarily deals with Christians of Maghrebi background CMB From Algeria Morocco and Tunisia A West Barbara 2010 Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania Infobase Publishing p 3 ISBN 9781438119137 more than 20 000 Abkhazian Muslims converted to Christianity Bureau Liana Aghajanian for the Tehran 12 May 2014 Our second mother Iran s converted Christians find sanctuary in Germany The Guardian Ozyurek Esra 2008 Convert Alert German Muslims and Turkish Christians as Threats to Security in the New Europe Cambridge University Press p 76 ISBN 9781725264090 gained through ethnographic research with Turkish and Kurdish converts to Christianity in both Turkey and German Hann Chris 2006 The Postsocialist Religious Question Faith and Power in Central Asia and East Central Europe LIT Verlag Munster ISBN 9783825899042 Wilfred Felix 2014 The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia Oxford University Press ISBN 9780199329069 Bytyci Fatos 29 September 2008 Out of hiding some Kosovars embrace Christianity Reuters Out of hiding some Kosovars embrace Christianity Reuters 29 September 2008 Muslim Kosovars rediscover their long forgotten Roman Catholic roots Washington post 6 May 2015 Religious communities and life stance communities ssb no Moslim die christen wordt leeft in angst Friesch Dagblad in Dutch 15 June 2010 Archived from the original on 17 March 2015 Retrieved 7 January 2021 Iranian refugees turn to Christianity in the Netherlands BBC 25 August 2017 In the Netherlands thousands of Iranian Muslim migrants and refugees are converting to Christianity despite conversion from Islam being considered apostasy in Iran and punishable by death Interfax Religion interfax religion com Arena Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia Sreda org 2012 Survey Maps Archived 20 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine Ogonek 34 5243 27 August 2012 Retrieved 24 September 2012 name Svenska Dagbladet SvD Fler Kristna valjer att bli muslimer 19 November 2007 Accessed 19 November 2007 Svenska Dagbladet SvD Fler kristna valjer att bli muslimer Archived 2009 03 21 at the Wayback Machine November 19 2007 Accessed November 19 2007 Christian convert from Iran converting Muslims in Sweden FoxNews 17 January 2018 Mostafavi Mobasher Mohsen 2018 The Iranian Diaspora Challenges Negotiations and Transformations University of Texas Press p 82 ISBN 9781477316672 There is no space to elaborate here but the research carried out by Spellman 2004b and Miller 2014 sheds light on the growth of Iranian Muslim conversion to born again Christianity in England and Scotland Iranian Christians in Leeds xperiences of Church Membership PDF University of Leeds 17 September 2018 P 9 Iranian Christian converts in Britain form three distinguishable groups depending on where they ve converted 1 Those who converted in Iran 2 Those who converted in transit mostly Turkey 3 Those who converted in Britain Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Christian population growth amp oldid 1214970860, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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