Muslims grew fastest; Christians lagged behind global population increase

[Joe Knapp]

The world’s population expanded from 2010 to 2020, and so did most religious groups, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys.

Christians remained the world’s biggest religious group. But Christians (of all denominations, counted as one group) 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 1.8 percentage points, to 28.8%.

Muslims were the fastest-growing religious group over the decade.

 

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/how-the-global-religious-landscape-changed-from-2010-to-2020/

 

• 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 points, to 25.6%.