christian countries

As of the early 21st century, Christianity has around 2.3 billion adherents, out of about 7 billion people. The faith represents one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world, with the three largest groups of Christiansbeing the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with 1.09 billion adherents. The second largest denomination is either Protestantism (if it is considered a single group), or the Eastern Orthodox Church (if Protestants are considered to be divided into multiple denominations).Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, Russia, the Americas, thePhilippines, East Timor, Southern Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Oceania. There are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as Central Asia and the Middle East, where Christianity is the second-largest religion after Islam. The United States of America has the largest Christian population in the world, followed by Brazil and Mexico.

Christianity, in one form or another, is the state religion of the following 15 nations:Argentina (Roman Catholic Church), Bolivia (Roman Catholic Church and Christianity). Costa Rica (Roman Catholic Church), Denmark (Danish National Church), El Salvador (Roman Catholic Church), England (Church of England), Greece (Church of Greece), Armenia(Armenian Apostolic Church), Georgia (Georgian Orthodox Church), Iceland (Church of Iceland), Liechtenstein (Roman Catholic Church), Malta (Roman Catholic Church), Monaco (Roman Catholic Church), Norway (Church of Norway), Vatican City (Roman Catholic Church). 

 

Almost half (48 percent) of all Christians live in the 10 countries with the largest number of Christians. Three of the top 10 are in the Americas (the United States, Brazil and Mexico). Two are in Europe (Russia and Germany); two are in the Asia-Pacific region (the Philippines and China); and three are in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia), reflecting Christianity’s global reach.

 

GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY(CURRENT SCENARIO)

Christianity

Growth rate: 1.38 percent

Adherents: 2.2 billion

Behind the trend: High birthrates and conversions in the global South

Areas to watch: Pentecostal movements in Latin America, Africa, China, and India. The fastest-growing individual church in the world is Misin Carismtica Internacional in Colombia; the Pentecostal denomination began in 1983 in Bogot and now boasts 150,000 members. Then theres Orissa Baptist Evangelical Crusade in India, which reports some 670,000 adherents. And in China, tens of millions of Christians practice their faith under the watchful eye of a very suspiciousand often hostileChinese government.

*Growth rates over the period from 2000 to 2005; all figures from the nondenominational World Christian Database, a project of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

*The entry on the Bahai faith was revised to reflect the concerns of readers. Originally, the item was entitled Bahaism, and described the religion as an offshoot of Islam. Additionally, the sentence on Israel was clarified to better reflect the fact that Bahais are treated well in that country, but face discrimination elsewhere in the Middle East.