An estimated one-third of the world’s 6.9 billion people in 2010 were Christians who lived around the globe, making Christianity a global faith.
While the Americas and Europe are still “home to a majority of the world’s Christians,” Christianity “has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region,” according to a report produced by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The report is titled Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population.
The report said:
â— In 1910, 93 percent of Christians lived in Europe (66.3 percent) and the Americas (27 percent). In 2010, 63 percent lived there.
â— In 1910, 6 percent of Christians lived in the Asia-Pacific region and Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2010, 37 percent live there.
â— In 1910, only 9 percent of the sub-Saharan population was Christian. In 2010, 63 percent is Christian.
The Christian traditions are theologically diverse and fall broadly along these lines: 50 percent are Catholic, compared to 37 percent who are Protestant and 12 percent who are Orthodox.
Twenty-seven percent of all Christians are Pentecostal and charismatic.
In terms of “distinct denomination families,” the Anglican denomination stood at 11 percent, followed by Lutheran at 10 percent and Baptist at 9 percent.
While the largest number of Christians is in the United States, Brazil is second, followed by Mexico and Russia. Among the top 10 nations are Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.
The number of Protestants combined in Nigeria, China and Brazil is slightly smaller than the number of Protestants in the United States.
As Catholicism has shifted away from Europe, it has shifted toward Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines. More Catholics live in Brazil than in Italy, France and Poland combined.
Most Christians live in countries where Christianity is the majority religion. Some 10 percent live in countries where Christianity is a minority faith.
Only 4 percent of the population in the Middle East and North Africa is Christian. An estimated 5 percent of the population in China is Christian, compared to 2.6 percent in India.
Christianity is the world’s largest religion group. Islam is second.