![]() In Egypt, for instance, Islam was the religion of 92 percent of the people.Īfrica accounts for an important share of the world’s Muslim population. However, also in many other African nations, the majority of the population was Muslim. These were the highest percentages on the continent. In Mauritania, Tunisia, Somalia, Western Sahara, Algeria, and Morocco, at least 99 percent of the population was Muslim as of 2023. Lower down on the list, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are expected to be added, while Russia, Germany and China will fall out of the top 10.Ĭorrection: This post has been updated to reflect that the United States is expected to remain the country with the highest Christian population in 2060.Islam is the major religion in many African countries, especially in the north of the continent. The country with the highest Christian population, the United States, is expected to remain in that position in 2060. Still, India’s Muslim population will remain a minority religious group (19%) in the Hindu-majority country. By 2060, India is expected to supplant Indonesia as the country with the largest Muslim population. The 2060 lists for Muslims and Christians are also expected to change in other ways. Meanwhile, the share of Christians living in the 10 countries with the highest Christian populations is expected to remain the same (48%). ![]() In 2060, the share of the world’s Muslims living in the countries with the 10 largest Muslim populations is expected to be slightly lower than it is today (60% vs. Learn about Muslims and Islam through four short lessons delivered to your inbox every other day. Try our email course on Muslims and Islam That’s because Muslims, on average, are younger and have more children than do Christians. That gap is expected to narrow by 2060, when Pew Research Center projects there will be 3 billion Christians and nearly 3 billion Muslims. Overall, there are about 2.3 billion Christians in the world and 1.8 billion Muslims. The countries with the five highest Muslim populations are all in South and Southeast Asia or in sub-Saharan Africa, rather than the Middle East and the countries with the three highest Christian populations are in the Americas rather than in the Middle East or Europe. ![]() In addition, the lists illustrate the extent to which the population centers for these religions have moved away from their historical and traditional hubs. Nigeria, which has the sixth-largest Christian population in the world (87 million), also has the world’s fifth-largest Muslim population (90 million). In India, which has the second-largest Muslim population, Islam is a minority religion (making up 15% of the country’s population) and Hinduism is the majority faith. Indeed, about two-thirds (65%) of the world’s Muslims live in the countries with the 10 largest Muslim populations, while only 48% of the world’s Christians live in the countries with the 10 largest Christian populations.Ī number of the countries with the world’s 10 largest Muslim or Christian populations also have large (and in some cases, larger) populations of other faith groups. The two lists show that the global Muslim population is more heavily concentrated in Islam’s main population centers than the global Christian population is for Christianity, which is more widely dispersed around the world. For example, the two tables of countries with the largest Christian and Muslim populations featured here reveal differences in the concentration, diversity and projected changes in the world’s two largest religions. ![]() “Top 10” lists can often be helpful in displaying and illuminating data. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images, left Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images) Nigeria has the sixth-largest Christian population in the world, as well as the fifth-largest Muslim population. A Catholic prays during morning Mass in Kano, Nigeria Muslims mark the end of Ramadan with prayers at a mosque in Lagos.
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