Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
hristians remained the world’s biggest religious group. However, Christians (of all denominations) did not keep pace with global population growth from 2010 to 2020.
The number of Christians rose by 122 million — reaching 2.3 billion. Yet, as a share of the world’s population, Christians fell by 1.8% to 28.8%.
Muslims were the fastest-growing religious group over the decade. The number of Muslims increased by 347 million — more than all other religions combined. The share of the world’s population that is Muslim rose by 1.8% to 25.6%.
Hindus grew at about the same rate as the world’s overall population. The number of Hindus rose by 126 million, reaching 1.2 billion. As a proportion of the global population, Hindus held steady at 14.9%.
Buddhists were the only major religious group that had fewer people in 2020 than a decade earlier. The number of Buddhists worldwide dropped by 19 million — declining to 324 million. As a share of the global population, Buddhists slipped by 0.8% to 4.1%.
The number of Jews worldwide grew by nearly 1 million, reaching 14.8 million. They continue to account for about 0.2% of the world’s population.
All other religions combined (including Baha’is, Daoists, Jains, Sikhs, adherents of folk religions and numerous other groups) expanded in tandem with the rest of the world. Their share of the global population held steady at 2.2%.
Collectively, 75.8% of the world’s people identified with a religion as of 2020. The remaining 24.2% did not identify with any religion, making people with no religious affiliation the third-largest group after Christians and Muslims.
The United States, as of 2020, is the country with the world’s second-largest number of religiously unaffiliated people (after China) — and surpassing Japan.
57% of all Japanese are religiously unaffiliated, while in the United States 30% identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.”
China had more religiously unaffiliated people than any other country. China’s 1.3 billion unaffiliated people made up 90% of its total population in 2020.
