Religions of the World

If the findings of the study entitled “The Global Religious Landscape” issued by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life issued on December 19, 2012 are accepted, then all the myths that Muslims in general and the world in particular had held about Islam are shattered clearly.
Muslims are 23 percent of a world population of 6.9 billion people. Of the 230 countries surveyed, they are a majority in 49 countries where 73 percent of them live. Twenty-seven percent of them live as a minority.
985 million of 1.6 billion Muslims or 62 percent live in the Asia-Pacific region. In the Middle East, there are 317 million or 20 percent of the world Muslims. In Africa some 16 percent or 248 million, in Europe some 3 percent or 43 million and in North America and Latin America some 3.4 million and less than a million respectively live. Despite their heavy concentration in Asia-pacific, only one in four is a Muslim in that region. Sixty-six percent Muslims live in 10 countries, namely, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Algeria, and Morocco.
In North America, the number of Muslims is estimated at 3.4 million. Muslim Americans have long believed without any definite data that they are over 6 million. In fact, some believe that they are 12 million. The total number of Muslims given by the Pew Forum is 2.77 million including non-citizens Muslims as well.   
Equally ridiculous is the claim by some that Muslim voters total 6 million in the US. No one has produced any serious study so far in their demographic claims, but everyone seems to be in a race of exaggerating the actual numbers. Muslim organizations, if they claim that the numbers given by the Pew Forum are wrong, can pool their resources to sponsor a study of Muslim demographics in the country.  
The other myth that is shattered by this study is the claim about the phenomenal growth of Islam in the world, especially in the US. It is said that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the US and the world. How this notion has become part of Muslim discourse, no one really knows. However, quoting from the Muslim writers and speakers, many in the right-wing Christian evangelical and the Zionist groups have created a climate of fear and anxiety about Islam and Muslims. Muslims tend to enjoy the fact that their faith is attracting large numbers of converts while others tend to fear the growth of Muslims and Islam as they alert their followers of the danger of this new challenge.

None offers any credible data in their claims. People who are leaving the religious establishment and who identify with no religious institutions are growing faster than any other group. They are 1.2 billion in the world almost identical with Catholics who also make up 1.2 billion of the world population. In the U.S., the number of unaffiliated people has been on the rise. In 2010, they were 16.4 percent of the population, but in 2012 their number reached 19.6 percent, a net gain of 2.9 percent.

Christians are 31.5 percent 2.2 billion of the world population. They are in the majority in 157 of the 230 countries of the world.  Four regions have Christian majorities: Latin America and the Caribbean (90%), North America (77%), Europe (75%) and sub-Saharan Africa (63%). Christians live as minorities in the Asia-Pacific region (7%) and the Middle East-North Africa region (4%). 99% percent of Christians live outside the Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity.  Europe has 26%, Latin America and the Caribbean, 24% and sub-Saharan Africa has 24% Christians. In Asia and the Pacific only 13%) are Christians

The 10 countries with the largest number of Christians account for about half (48%) of the global Christian population. They are the United States (11%), followed by Brazil (8%), Mexico (5%), Russia (5%), the Philippines (4%), Nigeria (4%), China (3%), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (3%), Germany (3%) and Ethiopia (2%).

87% percent of Christians live in countries where they are in the majority. It shows that Christianity is more evenly spread religion present in all regions dominating the culture and politics of those countries.

Jews are 14 million or .02 percent of the world population. Their majority lives outside Israel. Forty-four percent of them are in North America and 44%, in the Middle East 41%.

One billion or 15 percent of the world population is Hindus.  Ninety-four percent of them live in India, 2% in Nepal and 1% in Bangladesh.  An overwhelming majority of Hindus (94%) live in one country, India. The largest populations of Hindus outside India are in Nepal (2% of all Hindus) and Bangladesh (1%). They are the majority in India, Nepal, and Mauritius.
Buddhists are 7% or 488 million of the world population. Ninety-nine percent of them live in the Asia-Pacific region. Seven countries have Buddhist majorities: Cambodia, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Laos, and Mongolia.

The third-largest group in the world comprises of the unaffiliated number who make up 16 percent of 1.1 billion of the world population. More than 76% of them live in the Asia-Pacific region while in North America about 5% live. The largest number of unaffiliated people live in China (62%) followed by Japan (6%), the U.S. (5%), Vietnam (2%) and Russia (2%).

It seems that this century would witness the competition between religious establishments and free thinkers.  A large number of people from every religious establishment seem to be renouncing their membership and joining a growing number of unaffiliated people. Many of them may still believe in the ideals and ideas of their faith, yet they do not want to identify with the institutions or leadership of their faith. This number is going to rise sharply in the decades to come as people would start critically examining their faith traditions. This would offer one of the biggest challenges that the religious establishments have faced in centuries.