According to updated estimates from the Pew Research Center, Islam recorded the most rapid growth among the world’s major religions in the decade leading up to 2020. The findings, based on a detailed analysis of approximately 2,700 censuses and surveys, confirm that Islam outpaced all other faiths in population growth, followed by Christianity.
The global Muslim population saw an increase of 357 million people, with its share rising by 1.8 percentage points, reaching 28.8% of the total world population. This significant rise is largely attributed to high birth rates and overall demographic expansion in Muslim-majority nations. Notable increases in the Muslim population share were observed in countries such as Kazakhstan, Benin, and Lebanon, each witnessing a rise of at least 5 percentage points. In contrast, Tanzania and Oman experienced a decline of similar magnitude.
While Christianity continues to be the world’s largest religion, its growth has slowed in several regions. The global Christian population rose by 122 million, reaching 2.3 billion, but its percentage of the world population fell by 1.8 points, now also standing at 28.8%. The study highlighted that more Christians now reside in Africa than in Europe, though a majority of nations continue to have Christian majorities.
Buddhism was the only major religion that saw a decline in both absolute numbers and global share, with fewer adherents in 2020 compared to a decade earlier.
Meanwhile, Hinduism kept pace with the global population growth rate. The number of Hindus increased by 126 million, bringing the total to about 1.9 billion, maintaining a steady global share.
The Jewish population, representing around 0.2% of the world, experienced modest but stable growth.
Significantly, individuals identifying as having no religious affiliation—often referred to as “nones”—also experienced substantial growth. Along with Muslims, they were the only major group to record a notable increase. By 2020, around 75.8% of the global population identified with a religious group, indicating that religion remains a central aspect of identity for most people worldwide.
Understanding Religious Switching
The term religious switching refers to the trend where individuals either stop identifying with the religion they were raised in or adopt a different one. This phenomenon is particularly common among younger generations, many of whom either grew up without a religious affiliation or chose to leave their family’s faith. Among all groups, the religiously unaffiliated recorded the largest net gains over the past decade, further highlighting the shifting dynamics in global religious identification.
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