Christianity has been declining in France steadily since the 1980s. In 2021, a French poll showed that over half of French citizens do not believe in God or consider Christianity to be relevant.
The U.S.'s Christian majority has been shrinking for decades. A Pew Research Center study shows that as of 2020, about 64% of Americans identify as Christian. Fifty years ago, that number was 90%.
The overall level of belief is being eroded as people born early in the 20th century are replaced by members of subsequent generations with weaker religious convictions. Children are raised by parents who are less religious than their parents were, and the culture is reshaped with the passing of each generation.
Over the coming decades, Christians are expected to experience the largest net losses from switching. Globally, about 40 million people are projected to switch into Christianity, while 106 million are projected to leave, with most joining the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated.
Decline in Christian affiliation
The number of people affiliated with Christianity in Australia decreased from 12.2 million (52.1%) in 2016 to 11.1 million (43.9%) in 2021. This decrease occurred across most ages, with the largest decrease for young adults (18-25 years).
Forty-four per cent of Australians identify as Christian, down from 61 per cent a decade ago. The share of people ticking the “no religion” box grew from 22 per cent in 2011 to 39 per cent in 2021. The number of people in Australia who identify as Hindu surged by 55 per cent over the past five years.
Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia mostly through immigration. Hinduism is also one of the most youthful religions in Australia, with 34% and 66% of Hindus being under the age of 14 and 34 respectively. Hindu Temple in Melbourne.
Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are “upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese”.
Today, more Christians live in Africa than any other continent. By 2050, Africa will be home to almost 1.3 billion Christians, while Latin America (686 million) and Asia (560 million) will both have more than Europe (497 million) and North America (276 million). Christianity continues to spread out.
Among both of these groups of non-attenders (self-identified Christians and religious “nones”), fewer cite not feeling welcome, not having time, being in poor health and not having a nearby house of worship for their religion or denomination as very important reasons for not going to services.
“There are growing numbers of atheists/agnostics in countries across the world,” said Dr Lanman. “Our recently completed 'Understanding Unbelief' programme looked beyond the stereotypes and helped to document some of the world's rich diversity in atheism and agnosticism.
More recent study published in 2022 by Pew Research Center, have found a retention rate among American Christians closer to 67%, and cited that the decline of Christianity is primarily due to people leaving Christianity and choosing to have no religious affiliation (rather than due to people converting to other ...
One of the headline-grabbing findings is that England and Wales are no longer majority Christian countries, with a fall of 13 percentage points – from 59% in 2011 to 46% in 2021 – in those claiming a commitment to Christianity.
University of Tasmania Press. ISBN 9781387230914 . Although approximately 20,000 Muslims convert to Christianity annually, ...
It is estimated that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in China. There were some four million before 1949 (three million Catholics and one million Protestants). Accurate data on Chinese Christians is difficult to access.
Meanwhile, the Christian population in Asia and the Pacific is expected to grow by about 33%, rising from 287 million in 2010 to 381 million in 2050.
Up from 4.9% before, Islam emerged as the fastest growing religion in UK. Muslims stood at 3.9 million or 6.5% of the population. London: As per the 2021 census, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the Britain.
In 2011, Australian census data reported almost five and-a-half million Catholics, 25.3 per cent of the total population. By 2021, that number had gone down to just 20 per cent.
Almost 40 per cent of the Australian population reported having "no religion", the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says.
Australia has been a secular country since federation. The Constitution of 1901 prohibits the Commonwealth government from interfering with the free exercise of any religion.