Global Christian Majorities Decline

Although Christians were in the majority in 120 of 201 nations in 2020, the number declined from 124 a decade earlier. A new report from the Pew Research Center attributed the global drop to a growing number of people leaving Christianity, contributing to the rise of religiously unaffiliated populations in multiple nations.

The United Kingdom, Australia, France and Uruguay all lost their Christian majorities during the 10-year span. In these nations, the share of people identifying as Christian fell below 50 percent, while the percentage of religiously unaffiliated individuals rose substantially.

Uruguay became the only country in the Americas without a Christian majority in 2020, with 52 percent of its population identifying as religiously unaffiliated and only 44 percent as Christian. In the U.K., Australia and France, no single religious group held a majority. However, unaffiliated populations approached or surpassed the number of Christians, reflecting broader secularization trends.

New Zealand and the Netherlands also transitioned to religiously unaffiliated majorities during the same period, joining a group of seven nations that already held that status in 2010 — China, North Korea, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macao and Japan. In total, Pew found that 10 countries had religiously unaffiliated majorities by 2020, up from seven in 2010. These populations include individuals who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.”

Although Christianity remains the most geographically widespread religion, its proportion of the global population is smaller than the share of countries where Christians form the majority. In 2020, Christians represented 29 percent of the world’s population but were the majority in 60 percent of countries. This contrast reflects Christianity’s broad dispersion across both large and small nations, from the United States and the Philippines to smaller nations like Micronesia.

While Christianity remains numerically widespread, its cultural and institutional influence is declining in some parts of the world, the report concluded. A Washington Post article reports that Islam is growing around the world.

–Alan Goforth