Changing demographics and world religions
There is no consensus in determining the population size of religions. Some ardent religious followers conjure up unrealistic data sets . Whatever their claims, the sources here used are with the intention of being impartial. Muslim figures are derived from the Organization for Islamic Conference, and the Christian from the 2008 Vatican yearbook.
In 2008 Christians make up roughly 33% of the world population with a 2.2 billion population. The World muslim population is 1 500 million and make up 22% of the world population.
Hindus have a population of 900 million
Buddhists (in combination with mixed religions) 600 million.
The largest Muslim countries in the world are non-Arab. The Middle East & the Persian Gulf make up around 20% of the world muslim population.
The majority of Muslims live in Asia - almost 70% of the world's Muslims live east of Karachi.
India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh together have the highest concentration of Muslims worldwide with a combined population of 480 million (31% of the world)
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population 180 million (13%)
Pakistan has the second largest 174 million (11%)
India has third largest 161 million (10%)
Around 50 countries have a Muslim majority.
Europe has 38 million Muslims ( 5%)
The number of Muslims has tripled in Europe in the last 30 years.
Greece has 300 000 Muslims ( < 1%)
[other noteworthy points: half the population of FYROM is Muslim; and so is 80% of the population of Albania; and 98% of the population of Turkey.]
Religion is NOT a major determining factor in the make-up of family size.
The family planning programs initiated in the 1950’s and the fertility transitions after 1980 has all removed religious considerations from the fertility rate. The only exceptions are in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia & Western Africa. The data tells us instead that the socioeconomic factors of each country have an overwhelming bearing on today’s fertility rate.
The Islamic religion is the largest growing religion
Taken as a whole, the accepted fertility rate of Christians is 2.6; and that of Muslims 2.9. By virtue of this, it can be safely concluded that the number of Muslims worldwide is projected to grow faster than the Christian. Further, the Muslim population can be said to have a relatively more younger in population than the Christian.
The talk about religious conflict demographically between Christians and Muslims will play out moreso – into a 4 player religious world and include the Buddhists and Hindus.
Changes in global religious demography
The list of countries having the largest Christian populations in the past were largely European. The European countries with majority Christian populations are increasingly being replaced with countries from Latin America and Africa.
Just in Africa over the last century – between the years 1900 and 2000, the number of Christians increased from 10 million to 360 million followers.
In 1900 over 80% of Christians worldwide were European. Today it is less than 40%.
The changing demographic trends for the next 20 years will inevitably bring a different picture. As an example, a probable list of countries forecast to have the largest Christian population in 2025 is listed below - left to right in descending order.
USA | Brazil | Mexico | India | the Philippines | Nigeria | Zaire | Russia | Ethiopia
With the above scenario it’s not surprising therefore to understand why the Vatican plans its largest recruitment of priests from India and Africa.