Contrary to popular belief, religion is getting more popular. People who identify with a religious group currently make up 84% of the world鈥檚 population. That鈥檚 expected to grow to 87.5% by 2060. At this point, you might tell me that it feels like life is getting less religious and I would agree with you but I鈥檓 afraid this is the effect echo chambers can have.
In North America and West Europe, people have indeed become less religious. But it鈥檚 growing everywhere else. Much of this is determined by the share of births and deaths across the globe. Aging populations with low fertility such as the UK and Japan will see an increase in the number of religiously unaffiliated people. Whereas religious families tend to have high birth rates
At the moment, religiously unaffiliated people make up 17% of the global population but only about 10% of the world鈥檚 newborns between 2010 and 2015 were born to religiously unaffiliated mothers. This number is estimated to continue to fall while Christians and Muslims together currently make up 64% of all births. This is expected to rise to 71% by 2060. This is the biggest reason why the world is getting more religious, not less.
But nobody markets to the whole world treating every region the same. That鈥檚 why we鈥檝e put together the below infographic to help you understand how the religious makeup looks when it鈥檚 been broken down. And once you鈥檙e done,聽we鈥檝e got a religion-centric lightbox for you to explore and use so that you can make better connections with your audience.
The world population by religion
If you’re looking for religion-centric imagery, give yourself a head start and check out our hand-picked Religion lightbox.