The Global Religious Landscape June 2012 | Page 19
18
PEW FORUM ON RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE
Christianity has spread far from its historical origins and is geographically widespread. Indeed,
the vast majority of Christians (
) live outside the Middle East-North Africa region where
Christianity began. The greatest share of the global Christian population is in Europe ( 6 ),
followed closely by Latin America and the Caribbean (
) and sub-Saharan Africa (
).
Signi cant numbers of Christians also live in Asia and the Paci c (
) and North America
(
). Less than
of the world’s Christians are found in the Middle East and North Africa.
World Christian Population by Region
ESTIMATED 2010
CHRISTIAN POPUL ATION
ESTIMATED 2010
TOTAL POPUL ATION
PERCENTAGE OF POPUL ATION
THAT IS CHRISTIAN
Europe
558,260,000
742,550,000
75.2 %
Latin America-Caribbean
531,280,000
590,080,000
90.0
Sub-Saharan Africa
517,340,000
822,720,000
62.9
Asia-Pacific
286,950,000
4,054,990,000
7.1
North America
266,630,000
344,530,000
77.4
12,710,000
341,020,000
3.7
2,173,180,000
6,895,890,000
31.5
Middle East-North Africa
World Total
Population estimates are rounded to the ten thousands. Percentages are calculated from unrounded numbers. Figures may not add exactly due to rounding.
10 Countries with the Largest Number of Christians
ESTIMATED 2010
CHRISTIAN POPUL ATION
PERCENTAGE OF POPUL ATION
THAT IS CHRISTIAN
PERCENTAGE OF WORLD
CHRISTIAN POPUL ATION
United States
243,060,000
78.3 %
11.2 %
Brazil
173,300,000
88.9
8.0
Mexico
107,910,000
95.1
5.0
Russia
104,750,000
73.3
4.8
Philippines
86,370,000
92.6
4.0
Nigeria
78,050,000
49.3
3.6
China
68,410,000
5.1
3.1
Democratic Republic of the Congo
63,210,000
95.8
2.9
Germany
56,540,000
68.7
2.6
Ethiopia
Subtotal for the 10 Countries
52,070,000
62.8
2.4
1,033,670,000
40.0
47.6
Subtotal for Rest of World
1,139,500,000
26.4
52.4
World Total
2,173,180,000
31.5
100.0
Population estimates are rounded to the ten thousands. Percentages are calculated from unrounded numbers. Figures may not add exactly due to rounding.
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