Sunday 15 January 2012

Number of Christians by country

Interesting article from PewResearch. They give the number of Christians per country from 2010. I have a quibble about how they define Christian, thus the West may be over estimated as well as the number of Catholics in South America. The number in China is probably a little low. I don't think they should include groups that deny the deity of Christ, though this will not affect the numbers considerably.

The top 30 are

Country, Estimated Christian Population

United States 246,790,000
Brazil 175,770,000
Mexico 107,780,000
Russia 105,220,000
Philippines 86,790,000
Nigeria 80,510,000
China 67,070,000
Congo 63,150,000
Germany 58,240,000
Ethiopia 52,580,000
Italy 51,550,000
United Kingdom 45,030,000
Colombia 42,810,000
South Africa 40,560,000
France 39,560,000
Ukraine 38,080,000
Spain 36,240,000
Poland 36,090,000
Argentina 34,420,000
Kenya 34,340,000
India 31,850,000
Uganda 28,970,000
Peru 27,800,000
Tanzania 26,740,000
Venezuela 25,890,000
Canada 23,430,000
Romania 21,380,000
Indonesia 21,160,000
Ghana 18,260,000
Angola 16,820,000

2 comments:

  1. Here are the percentages that I got when I did a little math off of the total population of these countries (which I got from Wikipedia). Based off of these numbers, I am fairly sure that the poll was off:

    United States 79%
    Brazil 91%
    Mexico 96%
    Russia 74%
    Philippines 92%
    Nigeria 50%
    China 5%
    Congo 93%
    Germany 71%
    Ethiopia 64%
    Italy 85%
    United Kingdom 72%
    Colombia 92%
    South Africa 80%
    France 61%
    Ukraine 83%
    Spain 79%
    Poland 95%
    Argentina 86%
    Kenya 89%
    India 3%
    Uganda 88%
    Peru 93%
    Tanzania 62%
    Venezuela 96%
    Canada 68%
    Romania 100%
    Indonesia 9%
    Ghana 75%
    Angola 86%

    ReplyDelete
  2. JCF, yes you are correct. Go to the link, they give the numbers and the percentages. Here are the results by percent: http://features.pewforum.org/global-christianity/total-population-percentage.php?sort=percentageChristians

    I think they are a little generous, I wouldn't put the US at 80%, or Europe so high. I also think that Catholic claims for South America are often generous, especially when one considers the numbers of priests per "believer" and the degree of syncretism in parts of South America.

    I wonder if Africa is a little closer to the real result (though not certain). And China is probably > 100 million and some estimates up to twice that!

    I wonder whether it may be more helpful to count baptisms rather than self-identity when doing surveys; self-identity has different meanings to different people.

    Nevertheless, I think it may give a rough idea of the numbers. I grant that African countries should be higher and European ones lower.

    ReplyDelete

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