Christians

==Demographics==
{{For|a detailed breakdown of Christian demographics|Christianity by country}}
As of 2020, [[Christianity]] has approximately 2.4 billion adherents.<ref name="globalreligiousfutures.org"/><ref name="All Religions global totals"/><ref name="World">33.39% of 7.174 billion world population (under "People and Society") {{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/world/ |title=World |date=25 February 2022 |publisher=CIA world facts}}</ref><ref name="ForeignPolicy">{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835 |title=The List: The World's Fastest-Growing Religions |publisher=foreignpolicy.com |date=March 2007 |access-date=4 January 2010 |archive-date=11 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711181533/http://www.bellbookandcandlepublications.com/greenwoodsvillage/gor/islam.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Major Religions Ranked by Size">{{cite web |url=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html |title=Major Religions Ranked by Size |publisher=Adherents.com |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=29 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129202506/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The faith represents about a third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world. Christians have composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the [[Roman Catholic Church]], with 1.3 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians.<ref>[http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/universal_church_sees_increase_in_seminarians_reports_pontifical_yearbook/ Pontifical Yearbook 2010], Catholic News Agency. Accessed 22 September 2011.</ref>

Christianity remains the dominant religion in the [[Western World]], where 70% are Christians.<ref name="Global Christianity"/> According to a 2012 [[Pew Research Center]] survey, if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the [[Major religious groups#Largest religious groups|world's largest religion]] by 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman. High birth rates and conversion were cited as the reason for [[Christian population growth]]. A 2015 study found that approximately 10.2 million [[Muslim]]s [[converted to Christianity]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnstone |first1=Patrick |last2=Miller |first2=Duane Alexander |title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census |journal=Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion |date=2015 |volume=11 |page=8 |url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087 |access-date=30 October 2015}}</ref> Christianity is growing in [[Africa]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-12-20/christianity-growth-africa-europe/52125920/1 |title=Study: Christianity growth soars in Africa – |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=14 February 2015 |date=20 December 2011}}</ref> Asia,<ref name="Time 2001"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/china-protestantisms-simplicity-yields-more-converts-catholicism-213465 |title=In China, Protestantism's Simplicity Yields More Converts Than Catholicism |date=28 March 2012 |work=[[International Business Times]] |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/perspectives/2012/06/26/understanding-rapid-rise-charismatic-christianity-southeast-asia|title=Understanding the rapid rise of Charismatic Christianity in Southeast Asia|date=27 October 2017|publisher=Singapore Management University}}</ref><ref name="Lausanne">{{cite web |date=8 July 2011 |title=Number of Christians in China and India |url=https://www.lausanne.org/lgc-transfer/number-of-christians-in-china-and-india-2 |publisher=Lausanne |access-date=13 June 2020 |archive-date=13 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613031349/https://www.lausanne.org/lgc-transfer/number-of-christians-in-china-and-india-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Eastern Europe]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|date=10 May 2017}}</ref> [[Latin America]],<ref name="Time 2001">{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,156277,00.html |title=The Battle for Latin America's Soul |date=24 June 2001 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=14 February 2015 |first=Richard N. |last=Ostling}}</ref> the [[Muslim world]],<ref name="Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background">{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane Alexander|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=IJRR|date=2015|volume=11|issue=10|pages=1–19|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=30 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A Short History of Christianity| first=Geoffrey  |last=Blainey|year= 2011| isbn= 978-1-74253-416-9|publisher=Penguin Random House Australia|quote=Since the 1960s, there has been a substantial increase in the number of Muslims who have converted to Christianity}}</ref> and [[Oceania]].<ref>The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press. 2002. 270 pp.</ref>

[[File:Percent of Christians by Country–Pew Research 2011.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|center|Percentage of Christians worldwide, June 2014]]
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;"
|+ '''Christians (self-described) by region'''
|+([[Pew Research Center]], 2011)<ref>{{cite web |author=Analysis |url=http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-europe.aspx |title=Europe |publisher=Pewforum.org |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Analysis |url=http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-americas.aspx |title=Americas |publisher=Pewforum.org |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Analysis |url=http://www.pewforum.org/global-religious-landscape-christians.aspx |title=Global religious landscape: Christians |publisher=Pewforum.org |date=19 December 2011 |access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref>
|- bgcolor=#CCCCFF
! Region
! Christians
! % Christian
|-
| [[Europe]]
|style="text-align:right;"| 558,260,000
|style="background:#5A4FCF; text-align:center;"| 75.2
|-
| [[Latin America]]–[[Caribbean]]
|style="text-align:right;"| 531,280,000
|style="background:#6F00FF; text-align:center;"| 90.0
|-
| [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]
|style="text-align:right;"| 517,340,000
|style="background:#0047AB; text-align:center;"| 62.9
|-
| [[Asia Pacific]]
|style="text-align:right;"| 286,950,000
|style="background:#ADD8E6; text-align:center;"| 7.1
|-
| [[North America]]
|style="text-align:right;"| 266,630,000
|style="background:#6F00FF; text-align:center;"| 77.4
|-
| [[Middle East]]–[[North Africa]]
|style="text-align:right;"| 12,710,000
|style="background:#ADD8E6; text-align:center;"| 3.7
|-
!World
!style="text-align:right;"| 2,173,180,000
!text-align:center;"| 31.5
|}

=== Socioeconomics ===
According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by [[Muslims]] (5.8%), [[Hindus]] (3.3%) and [[Jews]] (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification [[Irreligion]] or other religions hold about 34.8% of the total global wealth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/453467/christians-hold-largest-percentage-global.html6 |title=Christians hold largest percentage of global wealth: Report |publisher=deccanherald.com |date=14 January 2015}}</ref> A study done by the nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth found that 56.2% of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world were Christians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/14/the-religion-of-millionaires-.html|title=The religion of millionaires|first=Robert|last=Frank|date=14 January 2015|website=CNBC}}</ref>

A [[Pew Center]] study about [[Religiosity and education|religion and education]] around the world in 2016, found that Christians ranked as the second most educated religious group around in the [[world]] after [[Jews]] with an average of 9.3 years of schooling,<ref name="Pew2016">{{cite web |date=19 December 2011 |title=Religion and Education Around the World |url=http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2016/12/21094148/Religion-Education-ONLINE-FINAL.pdf |publisher=Pew Research Center |access-date=13 December 2016}}</ref> and the highest numbers of years of schooling among Christians were found in [[Germany]] (13.6),<ref name="Pew2016"/> [[New Zealand]] (13.5)<ref name="Pew2016"/> and [[Estonia]] (13.1).<ref name="Pew2016"/> Christians were also found to have the second highest number of [[Academic degree|graduate]] and [[post-graduate]] degrees per capita while in absolute numbers ranked in the first place (220 million).<ref name="Pew2016"/> Between the various [[World Christianity|Christian communities]], [[Singapore]] outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain a university degree in institutions of [[higher education]] (67%),<ref name="Pew2016"/> followed by the [[Christianity in Israel|Christians of Israel]] (63%),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bokra.net/Article-1155836 |title=المسيحيون العرب يتفوقون على يهود إسرائيل في التعليم |website=Bokra |access-date=28 December 2011}}</ref> and the [[Christianity in Georgia (country)|Christians of Georgia]] (57%).<ref name="Pew2016"/>

According to the study, Christians in [[North America]], [[Europe]], [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]] and [[Asia Pacific]] regions are highly educated since many of the world's [[universities]] were built by the historic [[Christian denominations]],<ref name="Pew2016"/> in addition to the historical evidence that "Christian monks built libraries and, in the days before printing presses, preserved important earlier writings produced in Latin, Greek and Arabic".<ref name="Pew2016"/> According to the same study, Christians have a significant amount of [[gender equality]] in educational attainment,<ref name="Pew2016"/> and the study suggests that one of the reasons is the encouragement of the [[Protestant Reformers]] in promoting the [[education of women]], which led to the eradication of illiteracy among females in Protestant communities.<ref name="Pew2016"/>