Christians, the world’s largest religious group, have one of the lowest global retention rates among major religions, a new report has found.
A Pew Research Center report published last Thursday found that fewer Christians hold on to their religion than Muslims and Hindus.
Why It Matters
The findings carry significant implications for the future of religious demographics and global culture.
Christianity, while still a majority among world religions, is losing members at a faster rate than nearly every other major tradition.
The phenomenon of religious “switching”—adults changing their religious identity from that of their upbringing—has the potential to reshape communities and influence political and social identities worldwide. Notably, most switching is not to another faith, but to religious disaffiliation.
These shifts are most pronounced in high-income, developed countries, raising questions about future patterns of belief and practice in both global and U.S. contexts.
What To Know
Some 83 percent of adults raised Christian are still Christian, according to the analysis, based on surveys from 117 countries and territories covering 92 percent of the 2010 global population.
This trails both Muslims and Hindus, who each retain 99 percent of their adherents from childhood. Only Buddhists recorded a lower retention rate than Christians, at 78 percent worldwide.
Overall, the analysis shows around 10 percent of adults under 55 have switched from their childhood religion, often becoming religiously unaffiliated.
Disaffiliation Drives the Trend
Most people who switch religions do not join another tradition; they leave religion altogether.
Christians and Buddhists are the likeliest to disaffiliate, with 19 percent of those raised Buddhist and 17 percent of those raised Christian reporting no current religious affiliation.
As a result, the category of the religiously unaffiliated—people who are atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular”—registered a net gain of nearly 17 people per 100 raised outside of any religion.
AP
Geography Matters: Switching By Country Development
Religious switching is more common in countries with high Human Development Index (HDI) scores.
In places with an HDI of 0.8 or higher, a median of 18 percent of adults under 55 have switched religious identity, compared to just 3 percent in countries with low HDI (below 0.55).
Laws prohibiting religious switching in certain countries, such as Algeria, Brunei, Egypt, and Malaysia, correspond with very low reported rates of switching.
The U.S. Context
American trends reflect the global pattern. National surveys have shown continued Christian disaffiliation in recent years, although the pace of decline in the U.S. may be stabilizing.
Pew reported that only 46 percent of Americans born after 1990 still identify as Christian. Younger adults are much more likely to claim no religion compared to seniors.
Earlier this year, Newsweek reported on which states are seeing religion disappear the most.
Demographic and Political Implications
The shifting religious landscape impacts not just spiritual life, but also political and cultural identities worldwide. In the U.S., for instance, religious “nones” are increasing, while Christian affiliation remains higher among older and more conservative demographics.
Pew’s research indicates that changing belief systems among younger generations will continue to shape debates over public policy, social norms, and family structure.
What People Are Saying
Pew Research Center research associate Yunping Tong said in the report: “The decline is largely due to people shedding their religious identity after having been raised in a religion.”
Study co-author Gregory Smith: “It’s striking to have observed this recent period of stability in American religion after that long period of decline.”
What Happens Next
Demographers and religious scholars will continue to monitor how generational change and cultural transformation influence religious identity.
While the immediate future shows a stabilization in the rate of religious switching in some Western countries, long-term projections remain uncertain.