A study by the Pew Research Center says that by the year 2050, the rapidly growing Muslim
population will catch up to Christianity, which is currently practiced by more than
a third of the world.
At the same time, the number of religiously unaffiliated, which includes atheists, agnostics,
and people with nonspecific religious leanings, is set to steadily decline.
So what does the future of religion look like?
Some estimates place the number of religions worldwide in the thousands.
There are over 40,000 Christian sects alone.
But the five big ones are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, plus the unaffiliated.
Today, Christians and Muslims make up roughly half of the world’s population, with 31
and 23 percent, respectively.
But over the next 35 years, as the world population grows by another third, Muslims are expected
to nearly double.
At the same time, the rest of the world’s religions, including the unaffiliated, are
expected to stay relatively stable, and even drop slightly in proportion to the big two.
So why is this happening?
Well, first of all, on average, Muslims have a lot of babies.
At more than 3 per woman, this is roughly half a baby more than Christian women produce
on average.
And that’s twice the fertility rate of Buddhists and the unaffiliated.
In India, a country with one of the fastest growing Muslim populations, this has been
attributed to younger marriages, and a resistance to contraception.
At the same time, Islam is already disproportionately represented by followers under 15, and the
lowest proportion of followers over 65.
Again, by comparison, the unaffiliated are nearly twice as likely to be old, and almost
half as likely to be young.
Another factor is religious conversion.
While Islam grows, Christianity is slated to lose as many as 100 million adherents over
the next 35 years.
There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to religion, but looking at the big
picture, it seems like Islam is well on it’s way to dominating the world stage.
However, Pew notes that predicting trends that far in advance is a risky move, as “war,
famine, disease, technological innovation, and political upheaval” or other unforeseen
events can drastically alter demographic trends.
Ever wondered why and how a religion is officially recognized by the US government?
It’s actually a complicated process.
And for more Testtube Daily shows, subscribe to
our channel!
New videos everyday!
Thanks for watching!