Muslims fastest-growing religious group over last decade

Muslims were the fastest-growing religious group between the years 2010 and 2020, outpacing all other religions combined, a study has revealed.  

The number of Muslims increased by 347 million, while their share of the world’s population rose 1.8 points, to 25.6%, according to a Pew Research Center report.

The study, which included more than 2,700 censuses and surveys, suggests that Christians remained the world’s largest religious group but did not keep pace with global population growth from over the last decade. 

Christians rose by 122 million in number, reaching 2.3 billion, yet, as a share of the world’s population, fell 1.8 percentage points, to 28.8%.

Buddhists were the only major religious group that had fewer people in 2020 than a decade earlier, while Jews grew by nearly 1 million worldwide, reaching 14.8 million. Collectively, 75.8% of the world’s people identified with a religion as of 2020.

Muslims were a majority in 53 countries and territories in 2010, a phenomenon that has continued till the end of last decade. 

However, Christians were a majority in 120 countries and territories in 2020, down from 124 a decade earlier. Christians dropped below 50% of the population in the UK (49%), Australia (47%), France (46%) and Uruguay (44%).