A report on the status of world Christianity shows that the number of Christians worldwide is expected to climb from around 2.63 billion this year to more than three billion well before 2050. That’s according to the Center For the Study of Global Christianity which published the report titled: Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050.
It found the largest number of believers is in the Global South – a region which comprises most of Asia, Africa and Latin America. That’s despite intense religious persecution by many governments across those continents. It projected that the nearly 1.8 billion believers who live in the Global South would climb to around 2.6 billion over the next 25 years.
The Center reported the fastest growth in Christian numbers was in Asia, including the Middle East, at around 2% per year. “This is very encouraging despite the increasing hardships and persecution Christians face across Asia,” observed persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
By contrast, the Global North which takes in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan and South Korea is losing Christians. Its current 840 million is projected to fall by around 100 million by 2050.
Protestants (1.63%), Independents (1.96%), Evangelicals (1.66%), and Pentecostal/Charismatics (1.48%) are the fastest-growing groups. The report estimates there are around 1.5 billion Catholics on the planet. The number of global Protestants is expected to climb to more than 625 million this year. Evangelicals number more than 400 million. Pentecostals are expected to top one billion by 2050.
The Center also reports the global atheist population has fallen to around 146 million, after peaking around 1970 at 165 million. Agnostics are edging upwards to 756 million this year, but are projected to start declining.
The number of churches in the world is forecast to reach 4.2 million this year and 5.4 million by 2050. Missionaries are predicted to increase from 445,000 this year to 600,000 by 2050.
