The Global Growth of Christianity

The Lifeway Institute, citing the Gordon-Connolly organization, has published a report in which it assesses in detail the status and growth of Christianity. According to the report, Christianity is leading the world with a growth rate of %1.17. Approximately 2.56 billion people will become Christians by mid-2022. This number is projected to reach 3.33 billion by 2050.

According to the same statistics, the growth rate of non-religious people has decreased to %0.52, which is much less than the growth rate of the total population. In particular, according to the Lifeway Report, the growth rate of atheists is almost stagnant, growing by only %0.18 per year. According to Gordon-Connolly, this decline will continue downwards until 2050.

Lifeway also referred to data showing that the population of Pentecost Christian would reach one billion by 2050, a significant increase from 1900, when their population was less than one million.

Catholics will also remain the largest Christian group with approximately 1.26 billion followers, but the two fastest growing Christian groups worldwide are the Evangelicals by %1.8  growth rate and the Charismatic by %1.88.

On the other hand, this research shows that more non-Christians living outside of Christian countries have become acquainted with Christianity. In 1900, only %5.4 of non-Christians knew enough about Christianity. This percentage has reached %18.3 today. By 2050, one in five non-Christians is expected to learn about Christianity and have the opportunity to hear the gospel from Christians.

On this account, the percentage of unannounced people continues to decline worldwide. By 1900, more than half of the world's population had not been evangelized by %54.3. But now that number has dropped to %28.

Lifeway statistics show that Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world, and that more Christians are living in Africa than on any other continent.

In 2000, a study found that 1.6 million people had died because of being Christians, the highest rate ever reported. In 2022, the number of Christian martyrs is estimated at 900,000.

_{Source and Credit: Lifeway, Opendoors}