O, Joy To The World ... Islam On The Move!!

"It's just striking that there was such a dramatic change in a ten-year period." 

"During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other major religion." 

 "Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave."

"[About 31 percent of Christians are found in sub-Saharan Africa] And that's the result of high fertility, youthfulness and rapid growth in general of sub-Saharan Africa." 

Conrad Hackett, lead author, Pew Research Center report 

 

 

"Our estimates covered 201 countries and territories that are home to 99.98% of the world’s population. We focused on seven groups of people: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, adherents of all other religions, and people who do not identify with any religion." 

"Muslims added more people during the decade (347 million) than all non-Muslim religions combined (248 million). In fact, the growth in the Muslim population exceeded the total number of Buddhists worldwide in 2020 (324 million)."

"As a result of the rapid growth of the Muslim population, the gap between the global number of Muslims and Christians is shrinking. In 2010, Muslims made up 23.9% of the world’s population and Christians accounted for 30.6%. By 2020, Muslims accounted for 25.6% and Christians 28.8%. Growth in the number of Christians was slowed by high rates of disaffiliation."

Pew Research Center  

According to the conclusions reached by the Pew Research Center, Christianity is fast losing its prominence as the leading world religion. It still holds that position, but Islam is moving up swiftly -- recognized as the world's fastest growing religion -- to take the number one position in due time if matters proceed as they have for the last few decades. 

 

While Christianity's overall numbers across denominations, continued its climb to reach 2.3 billion, its share of the world's population of faith saw a decrease by 1.8 percentage points, to 28.8 percent. This is recognized as a falloff driven mostly by disaffiliation -- people leaving the Church. On the other hand, the Muslim population saw an increase of 1.8 percentage points, to 25.6 percent after the Pew report examined changes in religious demographics, analyzing over 2,700 censuses and surveys. 

 

 

 

Growth in Islam was attributed in the report to a younger Muslim population; an average age of roughly 24, while the global average age among non-Muslims was 33 as of 2020, demonstrating the contrast. Higher fertility rates are seen in some areas and lower rates of disaffiliation, in comparison to other religions, including Christianity. Of course, apostasy in Islam is viewed as a crime, one punishable in theory, by death.

African clergy across several Christian denominations are spreading the Gospel in the West. (Unsplash photo)

 

And where traditionally the bulk of Christian belief was prominent in Europe, it has since moved to Africa. There was noted a global rise of unaffiliated people -- those who subscribe to no religion at all. Close to a quarter of the world population does not identify with any religion as of 2020 (24.2 percent in comparison to 23.3 percent in 2010).

 

China is estimated to hold the world's largest unaffiliated population: 1.3 billion people, out of  its 1.4 billion in total population. The United States followed China, with 101 million disaffiliated in a population of 331.5 million. Japan came in third in that category, with 73 million disaffiliated out of an entire population of 126.3 million people.

 

The sole religion with fewer members in 2020 than in 2010 (324 million and 343 million respectively) was Buddhism, due to disaffiliation and a low birth rate. Populations identifying as Hindu and Jewish saw steady rates within the world's population.  

 

 

 

 

World Population

"The last time that global population declined was in the mid-14th century, due to the Black Plague."

"If our forecast is correct, it will be the first time population decline is driven by fertility decline as opposed to events such as a pandemic or famine."

"Africa and the Arab world will shape our future, while Europe and Asia will recede in their influence. By the end of the century, the world will be multipolar, with India, Nigeria, China and the United States the dominant powers."

"Improvements in access to modern contraception and the education of girls and women [have led to the decrease in population]."

"Three factors drive the fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman delivers over her lifetime which is the largest determinant of population. The global total fertility rate is predicted to steadily decline, from 2.37 in 2017 to 1.66 in 2100, well below the minimum rate [2.1 live birth was per woman] considered necessary to maintain population numbers."

Stein Emil Vollset, professor of Global Health, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

Japan ... Global population to decline in coming decades Photograph:( AFP )

The world population stands at the present time at roughly 7.8 billion people with experts believing the global population to peak at around 9.7 billion by 2064, before turning around to steadily decline to 8.79 billion by 2100. A new study recently published in the Lancet journal has for the first time revealed that the world's population is forecasted to decline, beginning in the next few decades, a phenomenon seen for the first time in centuries.

Japan, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Portugal and South Korea are among up to 23 countries that could realize a population decrease by 50 percent, resulting from low birthrates balanced against an aging population. China too, as the most populous country in the world, a country that has experienced huge population growth, is expected to leap forward exponentially, from 1.03 billion in 2017 to 3.07 billion forecasted for 2100. 

There are some countries, on the other hand, where an increase in population is being forecasted, among them countries in North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. There, populations are estimated to triple from 1.3 billion in 2017 to 3.07 billion by 2100. Professor Vollset identifies the decrease in population linked to two key factors; contraception and education.