Once We Accept Christ to Be Born Again. Are There Now Different Books Being Recorded Against Them?

A comprehensive demographic written report of more than 200 countries finds that at that place are 2.eighteen billion Christians of all ages effectually the world, representing virtually a tertiary of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no unmarried continent or region can indisputably merits to be the heart of global Christianity.

A century ago, this was non the case. In 1910, almost two-thirds of the earth's Christians lived in Europe, where the bulk of Christians had been for a millennium, according to historical estimates by the Heart for the Written report of Global Christianity.² Today, only about a quarter of all Christians live in Europe (26%). A plurality – more than a third – at present are in the Americas (37%). About one in every 4 Christians lives in sub-Saharan Africa (24%), and nearly i-in-eight is found in Asia and the Pacific (13%).

The number of Christians effectually the world has well-nigh quadrupled in the terminal 100 years, from near 600 million in 1910 to more than than ii billion in 2010. But the globe'due south overall population likewise has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a effect, Christians make up about the same portion of the earth'south population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).

This apparent stability, however, masks a momentous shift. Although Europe and the Americas however are home to a majority of the world's Christians (63%), that share is much lower than it was in 1910 (93%). And the proportion of Europeans and Americans who are Christian has dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in 2010 in Europe as a whole, and from 96% to 86% in the Americas as a whole.

At the same time, Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the start of the 20th century. The share of the population that is Christian in sub-Saharan Africa climbed from 9% in 1910 to 63% in 2010, while in the Asia-Pacific region information technology rose from 3% to 7%. Christianity today – unlike a century ago – is truly a global faith. (See world maps weighted by Christian population in 1910 and 2010.)

These are some of the primal findings of Global Christianity: A Written report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population, a new study by the Pew Research Center'south Forum on Organized religion & Public Life.

The study is based primarily on a country-by-state assay of virtually 2,400 data sources, including censuses and nationally representative population surveys. For some countries, such as China, the Pew Forum'southward estimates as well take into account statistics from church groups, government reports and other sources. (Come across Appendix C [PDF] for more details on the range of estimates available for Cathay.)

Christians are diverse theologically likewise every bit geographically, the new study finds. Well-nigh half are Catholic. Protestants, broadly defined, make up 37%. Orthodox Christians comprise 12% of Christians worldwide. Other Christians, such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, make up the remaining i% of the global Christian population. (See Defining Christian Traditions.)

Taken as a whole, still, Christians are past far the earth's largest religious grouping. Muslims, the second-largest grouping, make up a little less than a quarter of the world's population, co-ordinate to previous studies by the Pew Forum.ⁱⁱⁱ

Virtually half (48%) of all Christians live in the ten countries with the largest number of Christians. Three of the tiptop ten countries are in the Americas (the Usa, Brazil and Mexico). Two are in Europe (Russia and Germany), two are in the Asia-Pacific region (the Philippines and China), and three are in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Congo-kinshasa and Ethiopia), reflecting Christianity's global reach.

Clearly, Christianity has spread far from its historical origins. For example:

• Though Christianity began in the Eye East-North Africa, today that region has both the lowest concentration of Christians (about four% of the region's population) and the smallest number of Christians (well-nigh 13 1000000) of whatsoever major geographic region.
• Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, is home to more Christians than all 20 countries in the Middle East-North Africa region combined.
• Nigeria now has more than twice as many Protestants (broadly defined to include Anglicans and independent churches) equally Germany, the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation.
• Brazil has more than twice as many Catholics as Italy.
• Although Christians comprise but under a tertiary of the world's people, they form a majority of the population in 158 countries and territories, nearly two-thirds of all the countries and territories in the world.
• About 90% of Christians live in countries where Christians are in the bulk; only about 10% of Christians worldwide live equally minorities.

Global Distribution of Christians

And then where are the majority of the world'southward Christians today? The Pew Forum study suggests at to the lowest degree iv possible answers, depending on how one divides up the earth:

The Global South

In recent years, a number of scholarly books and articles take discussed the rapid growth of Christianity in the developing countries of the "Global South" – especially Africa, Asia and Latin America – and debated whether the influence of Christians in the "Global N" is waning, or non.⁴ A century ago, the Global North (commonly defined as Northward America, Europe, Commonwealth of australia, Nihon and New Zealand) independent more than than four times every bit many Christians as the Global South (the residuum of the world).⁵ Today, the Pew Forum study finds, more than 1.iii billion Christians live in the Global S (61%), compared with well-nigh 860 meg in the Global North (39%).

The Global North

Merely even though Christians are more than numerous in the Global Southward, the concentration of Christians is much higher in the Global North, where 69% of the population is Christian. By contrast, 24% of the people living in the Global South are Christian. This reflects the fact that the total population of the Global Due south is about 4.5 times greater than the population of the Global North.

Another style of looking at the distribution of Christians around the world is by region. Numerically, at least, Europe no longer dominates global Christianity the way it did 100 years ago. Rather, the bulk of Christians are in:

The Americas

Of the world's five major geographic regions, the Americas have both the largest number and the highest proportion of Christians. More than than a third of Christians worldwide (37%) live in the Americas, where nearly 9-in-ten people (86%) are Christian. The three countries with the largest Christian populations – the United States, Brazil and Mexico – are in the Americas. Together, these three countries lone business relationship for nearly one in every four Christians in the earth (24%), most the same proportion as the whole of Europe (26%) and all of sub-Saharan Africa (24%). Although Christians brand upwardly a smaller portion of the 2010 population in the Americas (86%) than they did in 1910 (96%), the Americas account for a higher share of the globe'south Christians (37%, up from 27% in 1910).⁶

Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Pacific

But sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region at present have a combined population of well-nigh 800 million Christians, roughly the same every bit the Americas. And five of the top 10 countries with the largest Christian populations are either in Africa (Nigeria, Congo-kinshasa and Ethiopia) or Asia (Philippines and People's republic of china). Moreover, the fastest growth in the number of Christians over the past century has been in sub-Saharan Africa (a roughly threescore-fold increase, from fewer than 9 million in 1910 to more 516 million in 2010) and in the Asia-Pacific region (a roughly 10-fold increase, from near 28 meg in 1910 to more than 285 1000000 in 2010).

How Estimates Were Generated

The Pew Forum, in consultation with demographers at the International Institute for Practical Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, acquired and analyzed about 2,400 information sources, including censuses and general population surveys, to arrive at Christian population figures for 232 countries and self-administering territories – all the countries and territories for which the Un Population Division provides overall population estimates. (Come across Appendix A [PDF] for a more than detailed explanation of how the estimates were made; run into Appendix D [PDF] for a list of data sources by country.)

In many countries, however, censuses and surveys do non incorporate detailed data on denominational and religious movement affiliations. Christian organizations remain in many cases the only source of information on the size of global movements within Christianity (such as evangelicalism and pentecostalism) and on Protestant denominational families (such as Baptists and Methodists). The figures in this report on pentecostal, charismatic and evangelical Christians and on Protestant denominational families were commissioned by the Pew Forum from the Eye for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., whose researchers generated estimates based in large office on figures provided by Christian organizations effectually the world. Readers should acquit in mind that these breakdowns were derived differently from the overall Christian population estimates.

According to the Center for the Report of Global Christianity, at that place are about 279 million pentecostal Christians and 305 million charismatic Christians worldwide. (Charismatic Christians belong to non-pentecostal denominations withal engage in spiritual practices associated with pentecostalism, such every bit speaking in tongues and divine healing; see Defining Christian Movements.)

In addition, more 285 million Christians tin exist classified every bit evangelicals because they either vest to churches affiliated with regional or global evangelical associations, or considering they identify every bit evangelicals. Since many pentecostals and charismatics are besides evangelicals, these categories are non mutually exclusive. (For more details, see Christian Movements and Denominations.)

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Footnotes:

2 Historical figures throughout the executive summary are courtesy of Todd Yard. Johnson of the Middle for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. Johnson is co-editor of the Atlas of Global Christianity, Edinburgh University Printing, 2009. (return to text)

3 Every bit of 2010, there were about 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, representing 23.4% of the global population. For more details, see the Pew Research Center's Forum on Faith & Public Life, The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010-2030, January 2011, and Pew Research Heart's Forum on Religion & Public Life, Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World'south Muslim Population, Oct 2009. As noted in the preface of this report, the Pew Forum is gradually compiling baseline population estimates and projecting future growth rates for the world's major faiths. (return to text)

4 Encounter, for example, Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2002; Robert Wuthnow, Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches, University of California Press, 2009; and Mark A. Noll, The New Shape of Earth Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Religion, InterVarsity Press, 2009. (return to text)

5 This mutual definition of Global North and Global South is non a uncomplicated geographic division of the world into Northern and Southern hemispheres. Rather, it takes into account levels of economic development too as geography. Figures for 1910 are from a Pew Forum analysis of data from the Center for the Written report of Global Christianity. (render to text)

half-dozen Figures for 1910 are from a Pew Forum analysis of data from the Center for the Written report of Global Christianity. (render to text)

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Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/

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