In analyzing the religious demographics data from more than 232 countries, Pew Research found that the most religiously diverse nations are in the Asia-Pacific region and sub-Saharan Africa. Those also happen to be the global areas where Christianity is experiencing some of its most rapid growth.
The least diverse regions are the Caribbean and Middle East, while North America and Europe have moderate diversity.
The United States itself has a moderate level of religious diversity, ranking 68th among all the countries and territories included in the study.
Pew writes:
Looking at the percentage of each country’s population that belongs to the eight major religious categories included in the study, 12 countries have a very high degree of religious diversity. Six of the 12 are in the Asia-Pacific region (Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, China and Hong Kong); five are in sub-Saharan Africa (Guinea-Bissau, Togo, Ivory Coast, Benin and Mozambique); and one is in Latin America and the Caribbean (Suriname). No countries in Europe, North America or the Middle East-North Africa region have a very high degree of religious diversity as measured in this study.
Interestingly enough, a 2011 Pew study also found the most diverse regions are also the places on the map that are seeing the most growth in Christianity. They write:
Although Europe and the Americas still are home to a majority of the world’s Christians (63%), that share is much lower than it was in 1910 (93%). And the proportion of Europeans and Americans who are Christian has dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in 2010 in Europe as a whole, and from 96% to 86% in the Americas as a whole.
At the same time, Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century. The share of the population that is Christian in sub-Saharan Africa climbed from 9% in 1910 to 63% in 2010, while in the Asia-Pacific region it rose from 3% to 7%. Christianity today – unlike a century ago – is truly a global faith.
featured image credit: Roger Smith via photopin cc
