Perilous
Times
Study: Christianity grows exponentially in Africa
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Religion News Service
Christianity has become a truly global religion over the past
century as rapid growth in developing nations offset declines in
Christianity's traditional strongholds, according to a report
released Monday.
Billed as the most comprehensive and reliable study to date, the
Pew Research Center's "Global Christianity" reports on
self-identified Christian populations based on more than 2,400
sources of information, especially census and survey data.
Findings illustrate major shifts since 1910, when two-thirds of
the world's Christians lived in Europe. Now only one in four
Christians live in Europe. Most of the rest are distributed across
the Americas (37 %), sub-Saharan Africa (24 %) and the
Asia-Pacific region (13 %).
"In two out of three countries in the world, the majority of the
population identifies as Christian," said Conrad Hackett, lead
researcher on the "Global Christianity" report. "I had no idea
about that. … I was surprised."
The report confirms Christianity's standing as the world's largest
religion, with 32% of the global population. Islam is second with
about 23%, according to a 2009 Pew report.
A close look at the details reveals a few ironies:
• Although Christianity traces its beginnings to the Middle East
and North Africa, only 4% of residents in these regions claim the
Christian faith today.
• Meanwhile, the faith has grown exponentially in sub-Saharan
Africa, from just 9% of the population in 1910 to 63% today.
Nigeria, home to more than 80 million Christians, has more
Protestants than Germany, where the Protestant Reformation began.
"As a result of historic missionary activity and indigenous
Christian movements by Africans, there has been this change from
about one in 10 (sub-Saharan Africans) identifying with
Christianity in 1910 to about six in 10 doing so today," Hackett
said.
For its part, Europe is more religiously diverse than it was in
1910, when 94% was Christian. Still, Europe hasn't abandoned its
Christian heritage, according to the report. Today, 76% of
Europeans self-identify as Christian.
"Many people may have the impression that a smaller percentage of
Europe claims to be Christian" than is actually the case, Hackett
said.
The report also sheds light on the difficult question of how many
Chinese are Christians. Researchers have struggled to get reliable
numbers since China's policies on religion are thought to
discourage Christians from self-identifying as such in official
surveys.
Adjusting for such variables, Pew researchers believe Christianity
has flourished despite a policy forbidding Christianity among
Communist Party members. Researchers estimate the Christian
community in China includes 5% of the population, or 67 million.