Which religions have had the biggest losses?
Religion has long been a defining feature of human civilization and shaped entire cultures and societies across the globe. But the religious makeup of the world is far from static; it is constantly shifting due to changes in population growth, migration, and even the faith choices of individual people.
Over the next few decades, the religious landscape will undergo significant transformations, with some faiths growing rapidly while others experience stagnation or decline. Demographics play a central role in these changes. Fertility rates, age distribution, and geographic concentration all contribute to the rise and fall of certain religious groups.
How different will religious communities be in 2050? What will their populations look like? Which faiths will gain traction, and which ones will slowly fade away? Click through this gallery to find out.
While the planet’s population is currently 8.2 billion, it is projected that this number will soar to 9.3 billion by the year 2050, an almost 14% increase. Some religious affiliations will grow as well, while others will see stagnation.
Despite rapid growth in Islam, Christianity is projected to stay the world's largest religion. By 2050, Christians will make up around 31% of the population, slightly ahead of Muslims. But its growth will mostly occur in sub-Saharan Africa, while it declines in traditionally Christian regions like Europe.
Muslims are expected to grow at an astonishing rate, increasing by 41% between 2025 and 2050. This growth, driven by high fertility rates and young demographics, means that by 2050 Muslims will likely comprise 30% of the global population, nearly matching Christians.
Despite increasing irreligion in some Western nations, the global share of atheists, agnostics, and the religiously unaffiliated will shrink. While their absolute numbers will rise slightly, their proportion of the world’s population will decrease from about 16% in 2025 to 13% by 2050.
Unlike most other major religions, Buddhism is expected to experience little to no growth. Due to low fertility rates and aging populations in countries like China, Japan, and Thailand, the global Buddhist population will likely remain around the same size as in 2025.
Hindus will see moderate growth, keeping pace with overall global population trends. The Hindu population is projected to grow by 34%, from just over one billion in 2010 to nearly 1.4 billion in 2050.
Jewish populations will experience growth, but at a slower rate than most other religious groups. Increasing by just 16%, the global Jewish population is expected to reach 16.1 million by 2050, though it will remain one of the smallest major religious groups.
African traditional religions, Chinese folk beliefs, and indigenous spiritual traditions will see an 11% increase, reaching approximately 450 million adherents by 2050. But their proportion of the global population will decline, as they do not keep pace with worldwide population growth
Faiths such as Sikhism, Jainism, and Taoism (pictured) will expand slightly, increasing from 58 million adherents in 2010 to more than 61 million in 2050. But much like folk and indigenous beliefs, these religions will shrink as a percentage of the global population.
By 2050, Muslims will comprise 10% of Europe’s population, almost doubling from 2025. Meanwhile, the Christian share will decline, and secularism (rejection of religion) will continue rising.
In Europe, countries like France and the Netherlands will have religiously unaffiliated majorities by 2050, which is a major shift from their historically Christian identities.
India will retain its Hindu majority, but it will also surpass Indonesia to become the country with the largest Muslim population. While Hinduism remains dominant, the growing Muslim presence will reshape India’s religious dynamics in the decades ahead.
In 2010, over three-quarters of Americans identified as Christian. But by 2050, this figure is projected to fall to two-thirds. While Christianity will still be the dominant religion, secularism and non-Christian faiths will see substantial increases.
By 2050, Muslims will outnumber Jews in the United States, becoming the second-largest religious group after Christians. Islam’s growth in America will be fueled by immigration and higher fertility rates compared to other religious groups.
Interestingly, sub-Saharan Africa will become the epicenter of global Christianity. By 2050, four in 10 Christians worldwide will reside in this region.
Both Christianity and Islam will see their strongest growth in sub-Saharan Africa, as the region's population jumps from 18% to 20% of the world’s total by 2050. This makes the continent a key religious battleground.
Religions with high birth rates, such as Islam (which has a birth rate of 3.1 children per woman) and Christianity (2.7), will experience rapid growth. On the other hand, Buddhism and irreligious populations have lower fertility rates, which will lead to stagnation or decline over time.
Religions with younger populations will expand significantly. Over a third of Muslims and nearly a third of Hindus are under the age of 15, compared to smaller youth populations in Buddhism, Judaism, and secular communities.
Predicting future migration trends is challenging, since migration is heavily influenced by shifting government policies and unpredictable global events. Because these factors can change rapidly, many demographic models exclude migration.
As people convert from one religion to another, this change will shape demographics (particularly in Europe and North America). Without migration, Islam’s growth in Europe would be significantly slower, and Hinduism’s expansion in North America would remain minimal.
Physical migration is also increasingly influencing demographics. As Muslims move away from native regions in Africa and the Middle East, they typically gravitate to Europe. In North America, Hindu and Muslim migration will contribute to the growing diversity of the continent’s religious landscape.
In the United Kingdom, Christianity is projected to decline below 50%, which means that this traditionally Christian nation will transition to religiously diverse or even secular majorities.
More than 50% of the population in 51 countries will be Muslim by 2050, an increase from 2025. Nigeria and Macedonia are expected to transition into Muslim-majority nations.
Despite the fact that Nigeria is projected to adopt Islam as its majority religion, the nation will surprisingly have the third-largest Christian population in the world by 2050, after the US and Brazil.
In 2050, the Middle East and North Africa will remain overwhelmingly Muslim, with little religious diversity. But Christian migration to Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will slightly offset Christian emigration from other parts of the region, stabilizing their numbers at just over 3%.
Interestingly, statistics suggest that Muslim communities would be on par with Christians by 2070, with each religion comprising 32.3% of the global population. By the year 2100, Muslims are expected to hold the majority at 34.9%, while Christians will be second at 33.8%.
By 2050, the religious map of the world will look significantly different. Christianity and Islam will remain the dominant faiths, but their geographic centers will shift, and only time will tell how the world will adapt to these changes.
Sources: (Pew Research Center) (National Geographic) (Britannica)
See also: Countries with the harshest religious restrictions
Study predicts the Muslim population in Europe will double by 2050
The future of faith
LIFESTYLE Religion
Religion has long been a defining feature of human civilization and shaped entire cultures and societies across the globe. But the religious makeup of the world is far from static; it is constantly shifting due to changes in population growth, migration, and even the faith choices of individual people.
Over the next few decades, the religious landscape will undergo significant transformations, with some faiths growing rapidly while others experience stagnation or decline. Demographics play a central role in these changes. Fertility rates, age distribution, and geographic concentration all contribute to the rise and fall of certain religious groups.
How different will religious communities be in 2050? What will their populations look like? Which faiths will gain traction, and which ones will slowly fade away? Click through this gallery to find out.