Each year the International Bulletin of Missionary Research lays out in summary form an annual update of significant religious statistics. Here are five sets of facts you should know from their latest report:
1. Global population by religion:
Christians – 2.38 billion
Muslims – 1.7 billion
Hindu – 1 billion
atheists – 136 million
Jews – 14 million
(Unevangelized population – 2.1 billion; Unevangelized as % of world: 29.2 percent.)
2. Membership by 6 ecclesiastical megablocs:
Catholics – 1.2 billion
Protestants – 441 million
Independents – 407 million
Orthodox – 280 million
Anglicans – 92 million
Unaffiliated Christians – 110 million
3. Number of Christians by 6 continents, 21 UN regions:
Africa (5 regions) – 520 million
Asia (4 regions) – 368 million
Europe (including Russia; 4 regions) – 561 million
Latin America (3 regions) – 562 million
Northern America (1 region) – 229 million
Oceania (4 regions) – 25 million
4. Christian organizations:
Denominations – 45,000
Congregations – 4.7 million
Service agencies – 30,000
Foreign-mission sending agencies – 5,000
5. Scripture distribution (all sources, per year):
Bibles – 80 million
Scriptures including gospels, selections – 5 billion
Bible density (copies in place) – 1.8 billion
