Percentage of Christians Worldwide:

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May 21, 2009
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#1
Percentage of Christians Worldwide:
33% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (2006)
Top 3 Largest National Christian Populations:
USA - 224,457,000 (85%)
Brazil - 139,000,000 (93%)
Mexico - 86,120,000 (99%)
Adherents.com (2005)
Number of Christian Denominations:
There are approximately 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions of denominations in different countries.
World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) The Major Denominations:
Roman Catholic - The Roman Catholic Church denomination is the largest Christian group in the world today with more than a billion followers constituting about half of the world's Christian population.
Eastern Orthodox - Approximately 225 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians.
Protestant - There are approximately 500 million Protestants in the world.
ReligionFacts.com

Christianity in America:
Today in America, about 75% of adults identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population.
ReligiousTolerance.org However, there are more than 1500 different Christian faith groups in America.
ReligiousTolerance.org

Evangelicals:
Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 648 million (11% of the world's population) are Evangelicals or Bible believing Christians. Evangelicals have grown from only 3 million in AD 1500, to 648 million worldwide, with 54% being Non-Whites.
Frontier Harvest Ministries
Missionaries:
In the unevangelized world, there are 20,500 full-time Christian workers and 10,200 foreign missionaries. In the evangelized non-Christian world, there are 1.31 million full-time Christian workers.
In the Christian world, there are 306,000 foreign missionaries to other Christian lands. Also in the Christian world, 4.19 million full-time Christian workers (95%) work within the Christian world.
Frontier Harvest Ministries

Bible Distribution:
Approximately 83 million Bibles are distributed globally per year.
 
S

SantoSubito

Guest
#2
In these estimations Evangelicals are counted among Protestants. Which means there must be a substantial number of Catholics and Orthodox identifying as Evangelical as well as Catholic/Orthodox.
 
S

Scotth1960

Guest
#3
Percentage of Christians Worldwide:
33% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (2006)
Top 3 Largest National Christian Populations:
USA - 224,457,000 (85%)
Brazil - 139,000,000 (93%)
Mexico - 86,120,000 (99%)
Adherents.com (2005)
Number of Christian Denominations:
There are approximately 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions of denominations in different countries.
World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) The Major Denominations:
Roman Catholic - The Roman Catholic Church denomination is the largest Christian group in the world today with more than a billion followers constituting about half of the world's Christian population.
Eastern Orthodox - Approximately 225 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians.
Protestant - There are approximately 500 million Protestants in the world.
DEAR LOVESCHILD, WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL PROTESTANTS IN THE WORLD LIVES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? IN ERIE PA USA JULY 3, 2011 AD SCOTT R. HARRINGTON


ReligionFacts.com


Christianity in America:
Today in America, about 75% of adults identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population.
ReligiousTolerance.org However, there are more than 1500 different Christian faith groups in America.
ReligiousTolerance.org

Evangelicals:
Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 648 million (11% of the world's population) are Evangelicals or Bible believing Christians. Evangelicals have grown from only 3 million in AD 1500, to 648 million worldwide, with 54% being Non-Whites.
Frontier Harvest Ministries
Missionaries:
In the unevangelized world, there are 20,500 full-time Christian workers and 10,200 foreign missionaries. In the evangelized non-Christian world, there are 1.31 million full-time Christian workers.
In the Christian world, there are 306,000 foreign missionaries to other Christian lands. Also in the Christian world, 4.19 million full-time Christian workers (95%) work within the Christian world.
Frontier Harvest Ministries

Bible Distribution:
Approximately 83 million Bibles are distributed globally per year.
 
S

SantoSubito

Guest
#4
Scott, The population of the US in 2009 was 307,006,550 Protestants of all denominations account for 51% of the population. That means the US has roughly 153,503,275 Protestants so that means US Protestants are roughly 1/3 of the total Protestants in the world. European Protestants make up a majority of the other 2/3 since most Northern European state churches are Protestant and every child born in those countries is automatically enrolled as a member of the church unless the parents opt out, and many parents don't opt out even if they're non-religious.
 
S

Scotth1960

Guest
#5
[quote=loveschild;482465]Percentage of Christians Worldwide:\\\\\\
Dear loveschild,
Do you know, what percentage of Christians Worldwide are Baptists or others who believe in believer's baptism only?
And what percentage of Christians Worldwide believe also in infant baptism?
In Erie PA USA Scott Harrington


33% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (2006)
Top 3 Largest National Christian Populations:
USA - 224,457,000 (85%)
Brazil - 139,000,000 (93%)
Mexico - 86,120,000 (99%)
Adherents.com (2005)
Number of Christian Denominations:
There are approximately 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions of denominations in different countries.
World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) The Major Denominations:
Roman Catholic - The Roman Catholic Church denomination is the largest Christian group in the world today with more than a billion followers constituting about half of the world's Christian population.
Eastern Orthodox - Approximately 225 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians.
Protestant - There are approximately 500 million Protestants in the world.
ReligionFacts.com

Christianity in America:
Today in America, about 75% of adults identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population.
ReligiousTolerance.org However, there are more than 1500 different Christian faith groups in America.
ReligiousTolerance.org

Evangelicals:
Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 648 million (11% of the world's population) are Evangelicals or Bible believing Christians. Evangelicals have grown from only 3 million in AD 1500, to 648 million worldwide, with 54% being Non-Whites.
Frontier Harvest Ministries
Missionaries:
In the unevangelized world, there are 20,500 full-time Christian workers and 10,200 foreign missionaries. In the evangelized non-Christian world, there are 1.31 million full-time Christian workers.
In the Christian world, there are 306,000 foreign missionaries to other Christian lands. Also in the Christian world, 4.19 million full-time Christian workers (95%) work within the Christian world.
Frontier Harvest Ministries

Bible Distribution:
Approximately 83 million Bibles are distributed globally per year.[
 
May 21, 2009
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#6
My thoughts are I wonder how many Christians there are. As some said could be Catholics in the percents or who ever. Mormons, JW, who ever all say they are Christians too. Lots of people say they are Christians and don't do one thing to be Christian.
 
S

SantoSubito

Guest
#7
Well theres no way to pin down exactly how many Christians believe in infant baptism, because some Methodists baptize infants, and some don't, and some Reformed churches baptize infants and others don't. If we combine the Catholics and the Orthodox we get 1.385 billion and a conservative estimate of Protestants would give us 250 million more (Since all of the European state churches believe in infant baptism).

We come to a grand total of 1.635 billion Christians who believe in infant baptism. Which means those who believe in infant baptism make up about 90% of the total Christians and the other 10% is made up of those who don't believe in infant baptism.


My thoughts are I wonder how many Christians there are. As some said could be Catholics in the percents or who ever. Mormons, JW, who ever all say they are Christians too. Lots of people say they are Christians and don't do one thing to be Christian.
Well the polls on the Christian population counts all those churches that identify as Christian regardless of how unorthodox they are considered by other churches. In this particular poll the JWs and Mormons were counted with the Protestant numbers. Assuming we just subtract the JWs and the largest Mormon church the number of actual "reformation" protestants is closer to 479 million.
 
May 6, 2011
640
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#8
[quote=loveschild;482465]Percentage of Christians Worldwide:\\\\\\
Dear loveschild,
Do you know, what percentage of Christians Worldwide are Baptists or others who believe in believer's baptism only?
And what percentage of Christians Worldwide believe also in infant baptism?
In Erie PA USA Scott Harrington


33% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.
does it really matter?
 
May 21, 2009
3,955
25
0
#9
Aug21-03, 10:15 PM
Why so many Baptists in the USA?

I could go ask on beliefnet.com, but they would probably think I'm trolling. So I'll ask here.

notes:

Baptists are the second largest denominational group in the USA. The largest is the Catholics, and I think I understand their story. Baptists in the USA number over 32,000,000. And if you disregard babies and young children as members, which is the way Baptist churches count, then the difference with Catholics gets much smaller. And no other denominational groups are even close in size.

The founders of the US government were mostly a mix of Congregationalists, Unitarians and Anglicans. Other denominations, such as Presbyterians and Lutherans, emigrated from Europe later in large numbers. Methodists almost completely dominated missionary activity in the USA during the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, Baptists rule numerically, especially in the deep South states.

One partial answer:

The African-American history with Christianity in the USA.

But that can only be a partial answer.

What is there about Baptist teachings, worship, society, etc. that gave them such a boost?
BiologyForums
 
S

SantoSubito

Guest
#10
I forget to post this in my previous post so forgive me for the double post.

From doing a bit of research I've found some interesting trends. The percentage of Americans that identify as Protestants has declined consistently since the late 80's while the percentage of Catholics, "none", and "other Christians" (mostly Orthodox) has been increasing since then. By the middle of this century assuming trends continue the US will likely be about 25% Protestant, 30% or more Catholic, 30% "none", 10% "other Christian", and 5% "other". Which means I may live to see Catholicism overtake Protestantism as the majority faith in the US. :)

does it really matter?
Not really no. I just like seeing statistics and working out when one group or religion will overtake another if trends continue. I guess you can say it's my weird "when I'm bored" hobby.
 
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S

Scotth1960

Guest
#11
Percentage of Christians Worldwide:
33% of the world's population is considered to be Christian.
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (2006)
Top 4 Largest National Christian Populations:
USA - 224,457,000 (85%)
Brazil - 139,000,000 (93%)
Mexico - 86,120,000 (99%)
Russia/Russian Federation 100,000,000 (70%)

Adherents.com (2005)
Number of Christian Denominations:
There are approximately 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. This statistic takes into consideration cultural distinctions of denominations in different countries.
World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) The Major Denominations:
Roman Catholic - The Roman Catholic Church denomination is the largest Christian group in the world today with more than a billion followers constituting about half of the world's Christian population.
Eastern Orthodox - Approximately 225 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians.
Protestant - There are approximately 500 million Protestants in the world.
ReligionFacts.com

Christianity in America:
Today in America, about 75% of adults identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population.
ReligiousTolerance.org However, there are more than 1500 different Christian faith groups in America.
ReligiousTolerance.org

Evangelicals:
Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 648 million (11% of the world's population) are Evangelicals or Bible believing Christians. Evangelicals have grown from only 3 million in AD 1500, to 648 million worldwide, with 54% being Non-Whites.
Frontier Harvest Ministries
Missionaries:
In the unevangelized world, there are 20,500 full-time Christian workers and 10,200 foreign missionaries. In the evangelized non-Christian world, there are 1.31 million full-time Christian workers.
In the Christian world, there are 306,000 foreign missionaries to other Christian lands. Also in the Christian world, 4.19 million full-time Christian workers (95%) work within the Christian world.
Frontier Harvest Ministries

Bible Distribution:
Approximately 83 million Bibles are distributed globally per year.
 
S

Scotth1960

Guest
#12
I forget to post this in my previous post so forgive me for the double post.

From doing a bit of research I've found some interesting trends. The percentage of Americans that identify as Protestants has declined consistently since the late 80's while the percentage of Catholics, "none", and "other Christians" (mostly Orthodox) has been increasing since then. By the middle of this century assuming trends continue the US will likely be about 25% Protestant, 30% or more Catholic, 30% "none", 10% "other Christian", and 5% "other". Which means I may live to see Catholicism overtake Protestantism as the majority faith in the US. :)
Whether Catholicism or Protestantism of some form dominates in the US, it really doesn't matter. The question is: Which Church is the One founded by Jesus Christ, and which Church among many groups is the one teaching the original traditions received from the Apostles, and has a valid Apostolic Succession of Bishops? Which Church did not change anything or speak of the "development of doctrine" as John Henry Newman of Catholicism said? Truth is not determined by how many followers there are or what percentage of the world population is this or that form of Christian. Truth may often be in the minority of adherents in any given nation.


Not really no. I just like seeing statistics and working out when one group or religion will overtake another if trends continue. I guess you can say it's my weird "when I'm bored" hobby.[
 
S

SantoSubito

Guest
#13
Whether Catholicism or Protestantism of some form dominates in the US, it really doesn't matter. The question is: Which Church is the One founded by Jesus Christ, and which Church among many groups is the one teaching the original traditions received from the Apostles, and has a valid Apostolic Succession of Bishops? Which Church did not change anything or speak of the "development of doctrine" as John Henry Newman of Catholicism said? Truth is not determined by how many followers there are or what percentage of the world population is this or that form of Christian. Truth may often be in the minority of adherents in any given nation.
I don't think truth is determined by numbers, but life in the US would be much better for all the Apostolic Churches if the US ceased to be a Protestant majority country. I'd much rather live in a place where when you walk down the street most of the churches you pass are Catholic or Orthodox, instead of Baptist, and I imagine you would to.

On a side note, since most of the mainline Protestant denominations are losing members (and since last year so is the SBC for the first time in 40 years). American Protestantism will be increasingly defined by the Fundamentalist and Pentecostal churches since they are the only ones gaining members in the US. This will consequently make Protestantism a less attractive option for young people since Fundamentalism is basically defined by anti-Catholicism/anti-secularism, and if the trends are true most of these young peoples friends will then be Catholic or "none".

Basically it looks like the religious scene in the US in 2050 will be dominated by a few churches Catholic, Pentecostal, and Fundamentalist; a few large minorities (likely Baptist and Orthodox). With the rest of the churches dividing the rather small population of Christians that don't belong to one of the churches above amongst themselves. This is, of course, only true if current trends continue. This goes very well with trends in the third world where the Catholic Church gains a substantial number of converts each year (more than all the Protestant missions combined), so the future is likely going to be a world that is increasingly dominated by Catholicism and Orthodoxy, much like it was a thousand years ago.
 
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