(December 1996).

(RNT) Growth in Christianity is keeping pace with
world population growth. Christians comprise 33.9% of the world’s
5.89 billion people today, according to researcher David Barrett.
That’s up slightly from 33.7% of the world’s 3.7 billion people
in 1970. Barrett is compiling the figures for the next edition
of the World Christian Encyclopedia, a comprehensive survey of
world Christianity published by the Global Evangelization Movement.

Charismatic and Pentecostal churches are growing
fastest, expanding from 5.9% of the Christian church in 1970 to
nearly 25% today. Roman Catholics make up the largest group, accounting
for 49.7% of Christians. They are followed in size by Protestants
(19.1%) and the Orthodox (10.8%).

Christianity is growing fastest in Africa and Asia.
In Africa, there are now some 310 million Christians, compared
with 119 million in 1970, according to Barrett. Asian Christians
increased in number from 90 million to 299 million during the
same period. Some 26.4% of the world’s Christians live in Europe,
but that continent’s percentage of world Christianity is declining
fast, down from nearly 40% in 1970, Barrett’s figures show. Latin
America and the Caribbean are home to the next largest group of
Christians (22.6%), followed by Africa (15.5%), Asia (15%), North
America (10.2%), and Oceania (1%).

Islam is growing more quickly than Christianity.
The world’s second largest religion expanded from 15.3% of the
world’s 1970 population to 19.6% today, Barrett says. Since 1970,
Hinduism grew from 12.9% to 13.7% of the world’s population, and
Buddhism declined from 6.4% to 5.6%.

The worldwide expansion of cities continues, with
an estimated 46% of the world’s population now living in cities.
There are now 3,960 metropolises of 100,000 people or more, an
increase of 60% since 1970. Some 400 cities have more than a million
people. The urban poor and slum dwellers comprise 48% of the world’s
population, up from 24.6% in 1970. (Religion News Today, www.goshen.net/rnt/?a=main)