by Gina Zurlo, Ph.D. – Co-Director – Center for the Study of Global Christianity and Yang Visiting Scholar of World Christianity, Harvard Divinity School.
This post is part of The Occasional’s “Numbers and Trends” series, dedicated to sharing work, analysis, and perspectives from our friends and partners at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity based at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
For the last 41 years, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity has published annual statistics in the International Bulletin of Mission Research. This year’s article, “World Christianity 2025: Regional Perspectives,” provides a continent-by-continent (plus the Middle East) overview of trends. We also produced a quick reference version of these stats available on our website. This little one-page factsheet has been our most-cited work for the last four decades! A significant finding of this year’s article is that in 2025, the global South is home to 69% of all Christians in the world, projected to reach 78% by 2050. Christianity’s demographic shift to the global South continues, both due to attrition in the North and high birth rates in the South.

The world’s 8 billion people remain highly religious (88%), with Christians still the world’s largest religion (32.3%, 2.6 billion), followed by Muslims (25.2%, 2 billion). The gap between Christians and Muslims is narrowing, mostly due to birth rates, though it is unlikely Islam will pass Christianity by 2050, or even by 2075 (the forthcoming Compact Atlas of Global Christianity will have new 2075 projections). Within Christianity, Catholics remain the largest major Christian tradition (1.3 billion); Evangelicals number over 420 million and Pentecostal/Charismatics more than 663 million (with overlap between those two categories). A recent addition to the statistical table is Christianity in the Middle East, where Christians have experienced tremendous suffering in recent years. In 1900, the Middle East was nearly 13% Christian, but in 2025, that figure is just 4%. The future of Christianity remains uncertain in this region, but we anticipate a continued slow decline.

The world’s population grew on average 0.88% per year between 2020 and 2025. We can compare Christian rates of change to the global population rate of change for a better sense of growth and decline. On average, Christianity in the global North declined by -0.41% per year over the last five years. Europe declined -0.54% per year and North America by -0.14%. The decline in these regions is evident. However, Christianity in Latin America and Oceania also reported rates of change below the global average of 0.88% – 0.64% and 0.59%, respectively. Secularization trends have been observed in both continents, most clearly in Oceania, where Australia/New Zealand has dropped from 97% Christian in 1900 to 71% Christian in 2025. However, the share of Christians in the Pacific Islands remains very high (94%). Christianity in Asia grew an average of 1.60% per year between 2020 and 2025; the most increase has been in Africa, an astounding 2.59% per year. There is, however, a lot of variation within each continent. Christianity in Western Asia (comprising much of the Middle East) dropped by -0.02% (deepest decline in Asia) between 2020 and 2025, whereas it grew in South Asia by 1.88% (greatest increase in Asia). In Africa, Christianity in Southern Africa grew the slowest at 0.96% per year between 2020 and 2025; it grew the fastest in Middle Africa at 3.16% per year. It may come as a surprise that Christianity in North Africa grew by 1.23% per year (faster than the global population and the Christian global population), given that Islam is 94% of the region’s population.
Two statistics in the annual table often get a lot of attention:
- Denominations/rites. Every year the number of Christian denominations in the world grows – by a lot. In 1900, we estimate there were just 2,000 denominations in the world. Today, in 2025, there are 50,000. Many of these denominations emerged in the 20th century because of schisms within Protestantism, the advent of Pentecostalism, and the founding of indigenous churches worldwide.
- Ecclesiastical crime. It may come as a surprise, but huge amounts of money are stolen from churches every year – an estimated 92 billion in 2025. CSGC co-director Dr. Todd Johnson recently did a podcast on the subject with The Christian Chronicle. Take a listen to see if someone is potentially stealing from your church!
There’s much more than could be unpacked in this year’s annual statistical table. Email a researcher at info@globalchristianity.org with questions.