Muslims are world's fastest growing religious group: Pew

NEW DELHI: Muslims emerged as the fastest growing religious group in the world over 2010-2020, while the share of Christians - the world's largest religious group - in the global population fell by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8%, a Pew Research Centre analysis stated. Hindus grew at about the same rate as the world's overall population, reaching 1.2 billion in 2020, of whom 95% are in India.

As of 2020, Hindus made up 79% of the population in India, compared to 80% in 2010. The share of Muslims rose from 14.3% in 2010 to 15.2% in 2020, revealed the analysis titled 'How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020'.

Globally, people with no religious affiliation - sometimes called "nones" - were the only category aside from Muslims that grew as a percentage of the world's population, rising by 270 million and reaching 1.9 billion. The share of "nones" climbed by nearly a full percentage point to 24.2%.

The research shows that the number of Muslims increased by 347 million - more than for all other religions combined. The share of the world's population that is Muslim rose by 1.8 percentage points to 25.6%.

As a proportion of the global population, Hindus held steady at 14.9% in 2020. The figure was 15% in 2010. The number of Hindus worldwide grew 12% from 2010 to 2020, rising from a little less than 1.1 billion to nearly 1.2 billion. Buddhists were the only major religious group that had fewer people in 2020 than a decade earlier. In 2010, Christians accounted for 30.6% of the global population, followed by Muslims (23.9%), Hindus (15%), Buddhists (4.9%), unaffiliated (23.3%), other religions (2.2%) and Jews (less than 1%).

The analysis draws attention to the various factors driving change in religious demographics. A key factor for Christians shrinking as a share of the global population is the widespread switching out of religion. This "religious disaffiliation" among Christians overrides their demographic advantage (high fertility).

Muslim population growth is largely driven by their relatively young age profile and a high fertility rate. Hindus remain a stable share of the world's population because their fertility resembles the global average, and surveys indicate that Hindus rarely switch out of their religion.

The analysis shows that Muslims had the highest proportion of children in 2010 (35% of the world's Muslims were under the age of 15), followed by Hindus (31%).

The research observes that Muslims and Hindus are the least likely to gain or lose adherents from religious switching. About one in every 100 adults raised Muslim or Hindu has left their native religion, and a similar number from a different religious group have switched to Islam or Hinduism.