The gap between the world’s Christian and Muslim populations is expected to narrow by 2060 but the US is expected to retain its position as the nation where the most Christians live, according to projections from the Pew Research Center.
The Pew data predicts that while the number of Christians in the world will grow from 2.3 billion to about three billion by 2060, the number of Muslims is expected to grow from 1.8 billion to almost three billion, citing the fact that Muslims are, on average, younger and have more children than Christians.
The figures also show the population of Christians in the US is expected to grow from 248 million in 2015 to 262 million in 2060, although the proportion of people in the US who identify as Christians will drop from 76.9 per cent to 63.9 per cent over the same period.
Others in the top 10 nations with the most Christian both now and in 2060 include Brazil (where the population of Christians is expected to rise from 180 million to 186 million), Mexico (from 113 million to 128 million), The Philippines (from 94 million to 152 million), Nigeria (from 87 million to 174 million), Democratic Republic of Congo (from 72 million to 160 million) and Ethiopia (from 57 million to 88 million).
Russia, which in 2015 had 103 million people identifying as Christians, China (71 million) and Germany (55 million) are all projected to drop out of the top 10 countries with the most Christians, replaced by Tanzania (with a Christian population projected to be 118 million in 2060), Uganda (96 million) and Kenya (92 million).
The data also lists the countries expected to have the largest Muslim populations by 2060. They include India (with a projected population of 333 million Muslims), Pakistan (284 million), Nigeria (283 million), Indonesia (253 million) and Bangladesh (182 million).
Pew said the data shows that Christian populations are more widely dispersed than Muslim populations with 65 per cent of the world’s Muslims living in the top 10 countries with the world’s largest Muslim populations while only 48 per cent of Christians live in the 10 countries with the largest Christian populations.
