Status of Global Christianity, 2015, in the Context of 1900

			1900	1970	2000	Annual Trend (%)	mid-2015	2025	2050
GLOBAL POPULATION
	1.	Total population	1,619,625,000	3,691,173,000	6,127,700,000	1.12	7,324,782,000	8,083,413,000	9,550,945,000
	2.	Adult population (over 15)	1,073,646,000	2,304,100,000	4,280,900,000	1.59	5,420,681,000	6,101,720,000	7,516,484,000
	3.	Adults, % literate	27.6	63.8	76.7	0.37	81.1	84.3	88.0
GLOBAL CITIES
	4.	Cities over 1 million (megacities)	20	144	361	2.21	501	616	880
	5.	Urban population (%)	14.4	36.7	46.7	1.05	54.6	58.2	67.3
	6.	Urban poor	100 million	650 million	1,400 million	3.09	2,210 million	3,000 million	6,400 million
	7.	Slum dwellers	20 million	260 million	700 million	3.36	1,150 million	1,600 million	3,700 million
GLOBAL RELIGION
	8.	Religious diversity (0–1, 1=most diverse)	0.27	0.43	0.45	-0.06	0.45	0.45	0.44
	9.	Religionists	1,616,370,000	2,983,012,000	5,330,961,000	1.32	6,493,515,000	7,249,030,000	8,738,368,000
	10.	Christians (total, all kinds)	558,131,000	1,230,548,000	1,988,399,000	1.32	2,419,221,000	2,727,172,000	3,437,236,000
	11.	Muslims	199,818,000	571,205,000	1,288,489,000	1.88	1,703,146,000	2,010,408,000	2,678,227,000
	12.	Hindus	202,973,000	464,184,000	815,787,000	1.26	984,532,000	1,066,463,000	1,183,629,000
	13.	Buddhists	126,956,000	234,909,000	452,185,000	0.94	520,002,000	564,760,000	575,769,000
	14.	Chinese folk-religionists	379,974,000	227,577,000	431,396,000	0.34	453,868,000	453,325,000	410,498,000
	15.	Ethnoreligionists	117,437,000	168,630,000	217,832,000	1.19	260,240,000	265,317,000	274,972,000
	16.	New Religionists	5,986,000	39,382,000	62,017,000	0.32	65,057,000	64,168,000	60,368,000
	17.	Sikhs	2,962,000	10,678,000	20,418,000	1.41	25,208,000	29,217,000	34,375,000
	18.	Jews	12,292,000	13,500,000	13,745,000	0.37	14,532,000	15,000,000	15,500,000
	19.	Nonreligionists	3,255,000	708,161,000	796,739,000	0.28	831,267,000	834,382,000	812,576,000
	20.	Agnostics	3,029,000	543,004,000	659,900,000	0.34	694,823,000	704,143,000	686,853,000
	21.	Atheists	226,000	165,156,000	136,839,000	-0.02	136,444,000	130,239,000	125,723,000
GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY
	22.	Total Christians, % of world	34.5	33.3	32.4	0.19	33.4	33.7	36.0
	23.	Affiliated Christians (church members)	521,683,000	1,119,481,000	1,889,261,000	1.35	2,309,108,000	2,610,161,000	3,310,498,000
	24.	Christian martyrs per year (10-year average)	34,400	377,000	160,000	-3.76	90,000	100,000	100,000
	25.	Christians, % living in countries ≥80% Christian	95.0	76.0	60.3	-0.91	52.6	52.4	48.0
MAJOR CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS
	26.	Roman Catholics	266,566,000	664,938,000	1,047,224,000	1.13	1,239,267,000	1,343,831,000	1,632,823,000
	27.	Protestants (including Anglicans)	133,606,000	255,017,000	426,808,000	1.62	543,397,000	626,591,000	883,616,000
	28.	Independents	8,859,000	96,381,000	301,490,000	2.21	418,564,000	510,691,000	694,472,000
	29.	African Independents	40,000	17,569,000	76,319,000	2.38	108,636,000	135,341,000	191,259,000
	30.	Asian Independents	1,906,000	16,494,000	94,270,000	2.99	146,586,000	188,757,000	289,728,000
	31.	European Independents	185,000	8,299,000	17,680,000	1.90	23,444,000	27,647,000	34,062,000
	32.	Latin American Independents	33,000	9,452,000	32,744,000	1.97	43,843,000	52,428,000	66,876,000
	33.	Northern American Independents	6,672,000	44,022,000	79,524,000	1.18	94,821,000	105,074,000	110,803,000
	34.	Oceanian Independents	22,000	544,000	956,000	1.72	1,234,000	1,443,000	1,744,000
	35.	Orthodox	115,855,000	144,067,000	256,628,000	0.66	283,185,000	288,898,000	293,987,000
	36.	Unaffiliated Christians	36,448,000	111,066,000	99,139,000	0.70	110,113,000	117,012,000	126,738,000
MOVEMENTS WITHIN GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY
	37.	Evangelicals	80,912,000	105,958,000	239,565,000	2.13	328,582,000	400,076,000	581,134,000
	38.	Pentecostals/Charismatics	981,000	62,674,000	460,529,000	2.26	643,661,000	795,734,000	1,091,314,000
GLOBAL CHRISTIAN DISTRIBUTION
	39.	Africa (5 regions)	8,736,000	114,785,000	359,245,000	2.78	541,816,000	704,003,000	1,207,833,000
	40.	Asia (4 regions)	20,774,000	91,585,000	271,420,000	2.19	375,905,000	464,797,000	598,589,000
	41.	Europe (including Russia; 4 regions)	368,254,000	467,266,000	546,448,000	0.16	559,900,000	546,065,000	501,488,000
	42.	Latin America (3 regions)	60,027,000	262,919,000	481,355,000	1.20	575,464,000	628,336,000	702,896,000
	43.	Northern America (1 region)	59,570,000	168,472,000	209,585,000	0.67	231,499,000	239,501,000	266,038,000
	44.	Oceania (4 regions)	4,323,000	14,463,000	21,178,000	1.08	24,892,000	27,459,000	33,654,000
CHURCH ORGANIZATION
	45.	Denominations	1,600	18,800	34,200	1.85	45,000	55,000	70,000
	46.	Congregations	400,000	1,416,000	3,400,000	1.59	4,309,000	7,500,000	9,000,000
CHRISTIAN MISSION
	47.	National workers (citizens)	2,100,000	4,600,000	10,900,000	0.64	12,000,000	14,000,000	17,000,000
	48.	Foreign missionaries	62,000	240,000	420,000	-0.32	400,000	550,000	700,000
	49.	Foreign-mission sending agencies	600	2,200	4,000	1.63	5,100	6,000	7,500
	50.	Non-Christians who know a Christian (%)	4.3	10.5	13.6	0.24	14.1	14.8	15.4
URBAN MISSION
	51.	Global urban population	232,695,000	1,353,274,000	2,864,278,000	2.18	3,957,725,000	4,702,865,000	6,432,512,000
	52.	Christian urban population	159,600,000	660,800,000	1,223,415,000	1.64	1,560,439,000	1,800,195,000	2,028,925,000
	53.	Megacities under 50% Christian	5	65	226	1.53	284	357	450
	54.	New non-Christian urban dwellers per day	5,200	51,100	129,000	0.25	134,000	137,000	164,000
CHRISTIAN FINANCE (in US$, per year)
	55.	Personal income of church members	270 billion	4,100 billion	17,000 billion	3.69	42,000 billion	60,000 billion	150,000 billion
	56.	Giving to Christian causes	8 billion	70 billion	300 billion	3.75	700 billion	990 billion	2,400 billion
	57.	Churches' income	7 billion	50 billion	120 billion	3.73	280 billion	400 billion	990 billion
	58.	Parachurch and institutional income	1 billion	20 billion	180 billion	3.76	420 billion	590 billion	1,420 billion
	59.	Ecclesiastical crime	300,000	5,000,000	18 billion	4.01	50 billion	100 billion	690 billion
	60.	Income of global foreign missions	200 million	3 billion	17 billion	3.79	45 billion	60 billion	150 billion
CHRISTIAN MEDIA
	61.	Books (titles) about Christianity	300,000	1,800,000	4,800,000	3.63	8,200,000	11,800,000	14,500,000
	62.	Christian periodicals (titles)	3,500	23,000	35,000	4.32	66,000	100,000	120,000
	63.	Bibles printed per year	5,452,600	25,000,000	53,700,000	2.91	82,600,000	110,000,000	135,000,000
	64.	Scriptures (including selections) printed per year	20 million	281 million	4,600 million	1.07	5,060 million	6,000 million	9,200 million
	65.	Bible density (copies in place)	108 million	443 million	1,400 million	1.98	1,880 million	2,280 million	3,700 million
	66.	Users of radio/TV/Internet	0	750 million	1,830 million	1.08	2,150 million	2,430 million	2,870 million
WORLD EVANGELIZATION
	67.	Unevangelized population	880,122,000	1,650,559,000	1,833,442,000	0.99	2,124,216,000	2,314,510,000	2,608,900,000
	68.	Unevangelized as % of world population	54.3	44.7	29.9	-0.13	29.3	28.6	27.3
	69.	World evangelization plans since 30 c.e.	250	510	1,500	2.89	2,300	3,000	4,000

This report was prepared by Todd M. Johnson, Gina A. Zurlo, Albert W. Hickman, and Peter F. Crossing at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Footnotes for the “Status of Global Christianity, 2015” table can be found at www.globalchristianity.org.