Christianity remains the world’s largest religious group, with an estimated 2.269 billion Christians in 2020. At the same time, Christians made up a smaller share of the world population than in 2010, and the United States has experienced a long-term decline in Christian identification. The figures below separate global estimates from U.S. survey results and keep each measurement period explicit.
Contents
- Global Christian population
- Where Christians live
- Christian majorities and country change
- Christianity in the United States
- U.S. Christian traditions and denominations
- Belief, practice and religious switching
Global Christian population
Pew Research Center estimated the global Christian population at 2,147,230,000 people in 2010 and 2,268,860,000 people in 2020. That represents a 5.7% increase in the number of Christians over the decade. These are religious-composition estimates based on more than 2,700 censuses and surveys, rather than a live count for 2026. The source is Countries with the most Christians & global Christian population change, 2010-2020.
The worldwide population share moved in a different direction. Christians represented 30.6% of the world’s population in 2010 and 28.8% in 2020, a decline of 1.8 percentage points. During the same period, the number of non-Christians increased 15.3%, compared with 5.7% growth among Christians. In other words, the Christian population grew in absolute terms while growing more slowly than the population outside Christianity.
The regional picture also matters. In 2020, Christians made up less than 10% of the population in both the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East-North Africa region. Those regional percentages describe the share of each region’s population, not the number of Christians living there.
Where Christians live
In 2020, sub-Saharan Africa contained 31% of the world’s Christians. Latin America-Caribbean contained 24%, Europe contained 22%, and North America contained 10%. Together, these four regions accounted for 87% of the global Christian population in that year. The regional distribution is reported by Pew Research Center in Countries with the most Christians & global Christian population change, 2010-2020.
The distribution changed between 2010 and 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa’s share of the world’s Christian population rose by 6 percentage points, while Europe’s share fell by 4 percentage points. This describes where Christians were concentrated globally, not a direct measure of individual religious commitment or church attendance.
Regional population composition shows another contrast:
| Region | Christian share in 2020 | Reported change from 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 62% | Not specified in the supplied comparison |
| North America | 63% | Down 14 percentage points |
| Europe | 67% | Down 8 percentage points |
| Latin America-Caribbean | 85% | Down 5 percentage points |
The 2020 Christian share was therefore highest among these listed regions in Latin America-Caribbean, at 85%, followed by Europe at 67%, North America at 63% and sub-Saharan Africa at 62%. The different measures should not be confused: a region’s share of the world’s Christians is not the same as the percentage of that region’s own population that is Christian.
Christian majorities and country change
Christians were a majority in 120 countries and territories in 2020, down from 124 in 2010. That country count comes from Pew Research Center’s The World’s Religious Groups: How Their Sizes Changed from 2010 to 2020.
Several countries were close to, but below, a Christian majority in 2020. Christians accounted for 49% of the United Kingdom’s population, 47% of Australia’s population, 46% of France’s population and 44% of Uruguay’s population. The Netherlands had a religiously unaffiliated majority of 54%, while Christians were not a majority there.
The largest country-level decline in Christian population share from 2010 to 2020 was Australia’s 20-point drop. Chile’s Christian population share fell by 18 percentage points over the same period. Mozambique was the only country identified in the source as having a substantial increase: its Christian population share rose by 5 points to 61%.
These country-level changes describe population shares, so they should be read separately from changes in the absolute number of Christians. A falling share can occur even when a population grows, and a rising share does not by itself measure religious practice.
Christianity in the United States
The 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study found that Christianity was the self-identified religion of 62% of U.S. adults. Protestants represented 40%, Catholics represented 19%, and other Christian groups represented about 3%. These are survey estimates for U.S. adults, and percentages may not sum exactly because of rounding. The results are reported in US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS).
The long-term trend is clear in the same study. The Christian share of U.S. adults was 78% in 2007, 71% in 2014 and 62% in 2023-24. That is a 16-percentage-point decline between 2007 and 2023-24. However, the more recent measurements show a narrower range: from 2019 through 2024, the Christian share stayed between 60% and 64%.
The change in Christian identification corresponds with growth among people who describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated. In 2023-24, religiously unaffiliated adults represented 29% of the U.S. adult population, including 5% who identified as atheist, 6% as agnostic and 19% as nothing in particular. The Religious identity in the United States report measured the unaffiliated share at 16% in 2007, 23% in 2014 and 29% in 2023-24.
Adults identifying with religions other than Christianity also increased as a share of U.S. adults, from 4.7% in 2007 to 7.1% in 2023-24. These figures concern self-identified religious identity; they do not establish how frequently people participate in congregational life.
U.S. Christian traditions and denominations
The 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study gives a more detailed view of Christian traditions. Evangelical Protestants represented 23% of U.S. adults, compared with 26% in 2007. Mainline Protestants represented 11%, down from 18% in 2007, while historically Black Protestants represented 5%, down from 7%.
Some broader denominational categories were measured at 12% for Baptist denominational families and 7% for nondenominational Protestants in 2023-24. These categories are not interchangeable with individual denominations, so they should not be added to the named church figures below.
| Christian tradition or denomination | U.S. adults in 2023-24 | Earlier comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Evangelical Protestants | 23% | 26% in 2007 |
| Mainline Protestants | 11% | 18% in 2007 |
| Historically Black Protestants | 5% | 7% in 2007 |
| Southern Baptist Convention | 4.4% | 5.3% in 2014; 6.7% in 2007 |
| United Methodist Church | 2.7% | 3.6% in 2014; 5.1% in 2007 |
Among other named denominations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was identified by 1.4% of U.S. adults in 2023-24, the Episcopal Church by 0.9%, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) by 0.8%. The Southern Baptist Convention was identified by 4.4%, compared with 5.3% in 2014 and 6.7% in 2007. The United Methodist Church was identified by 2.7%, compared with 3.6% in 2014 and 5.1% in 2007. These denomination figures come from the RLS reporting in US Christian Decline May Be Stabilizing and Religious identity in the United States.
Belief, practice and religious switching
Religious identity is only one part of the U.S. religious landscape. In the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, 44% of U.S. adults said they prayed at least once a day, and 33% said they attended religious services at least once a month. The study also found that 86% believed people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body, 83% believed in God or a universal spirit, and 79% believed there is something spiritual beyond the natural world. Seventy percent believed in heaven, hell or both. These results are summarized in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study: Executive summary.
The age pattern in the RLS shows substantial differences. Among U.S. adults ages 18 to 24, 46% identified as Christian, compared with 80% of adults ages 74 and older. Daily prayer was reported by 27% of adults ages 18 to 24 and 58% of adults ages 74 and older. Monthly religious-service attendance was reported by 25% of the younger group and 49% of the older group. Religious unaffiliation was 43% among adults ages 18 to 24, compared with 13% among adults ages 74 and older. These are comparisons within the 2023-24 U.S. adult survey population, not forecasts of future religious identity.
Religious switching is also prominent. Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults had switched religions between childhood and adulthood in the 2023-24 RLS. Eighty percent said they were raised Christian, while 22% no longer identified as Christian. According to How Americans change, keep their religious identities over their lives, for every American who became Christian after being raised in another religion or no religion, six others left Christianity.
The switching figures and the belief measures answer different questions. Switching describes movement between childhood and adult religious identities; prayer and attendance describe reported practices; belief questions describe particular spiritual convictions. Taken together, the 2023-24 results show why a single percentage for Christian identity cannot represent every dimension of faith in everyday life.