Christianity

Nearly a third of the world identifies with Christianity — 31.5 percent or 2.2 billion people.¹ Christianity, Islam and those who have no religious affiliation are the three largest religious populations worldwide.² Nearly 36 percent of Christians live in North America, Europe has the next largest Christian population, accounting for just under 26 percent of the world’s Christian population.³ The United States, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Germany, the Philippines, China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have the highest Christian populations in the world.⁴ In Sub-Saharan Africa, Christians accounted for just 9 percent of the population in 1910, yet in 2010, 63 percent of people in the region were adherents to Christianity. The Asia-Pacific region also saw an increase in Christianity over the last century. Just 3 percent of the Asian-Pacific population adhered to Christianity in 1910, while 7 percent identified as Christian in 2010.⁵ Of the global Christian population, 50.1 percent is Catholic, 36.7 percent are Protestant, 11.9 percent are Orthodox and 1.3 percent are another Christian denomination.⁶ There are approximately 1.2 billion adherents of Catholicism around the world, 41 percent of which live in Latin America.⁷ Brazil has the highest Catholic population in the world with between 123 and 150 million Catholic citizens. Italy is home the highest number of Catholics in Europe, 57 million.⁸ Africa has seen the highest increase in Catholic adherents since 1970, Europe has seen the largest decrease in Catholic population. Just 7 percent of the world’s Catholics live in North America.⁹ The Pew Research Center’s studies show Catholicism tripling in the last century, rising from 291 million Catholics worldwide in 1910 to 1.1 billion in 2010.¹⁰ However, the prevalence of Catholicism has remained fairly stable, accounting for approximately half of all Christians and 16–17 percent of the global population between 1910 and 2010.¹¹ The more significant shift in Catholicism is geographic, with 24 percent of Catholics residing in Europe in 2010 compared to 65 percent in 1910.¹²