Islam will be the largest religion in the world by 2070, research has found.
According to US-based Pew Research Centre , the world’s population of Muslims will grow by 73 per cent between 2010 and 2050, compared to 35 per cent for Christians.
The world’s population will grow by 37 per cent over the same period. If those rates of growth continue past 2050, Muslims will outnumber Christians by 2070, the report found. It also says that Muslims will make up 10 per cent of Europe’s population.
In 2010 there were 1.6bn Muslims in the world, and 2.17bn Christians. By 2050, there will be 2.76bn Muslims and 2.92bn Christians – and if both religions continue at that rate of growth, Islam will have a larger number of followers than Christianity by 2070.
Christianity is also likely to suffer as more converts leave to become non-religious or to join other faiths, the report predicted.
