In the coming decades, Islam will be the world’s fastest growing religion — but Christianity will remain the most numerous through at least the middle of the 21st century.
Christians will remain the largest religious group by 2050 — with a population of 2.92 billion, should current trends continue — but Muslims will reach 2.76 billion, according to analysis from the Pew Research Center.
Both faith groups will then make up about 30 percent of the world population, with a majority of the growth of Christianity and Islam occurring in Africa.
Muslims will grow to become 10 percent of Europe’s population, while also outnumbering Jews in the United States. India will retain a Hindu majority, though it will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, the analysis found.
The percentage of Christians in the U.S. population is set to decline from more than three-quarters in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050. Furthermore, 4 out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa, Pew found.
