By 2050, the number of Muslims will nearly pull level with the number of Christians in the world. The think tank`s projections show that between 2010 and 2050 the Christian population will grow from 2.17 billion to 2.92 billion, while Muslims will increase from 1.6 billion to 2.76 billion.
In the case of Christians, this represents virtually no change from the 31.4 percent of the global population between 2010 and 2050, however Muslims will account for 29.7 percent of the world population in 2050, up from 23.2 percent in 2010.
The same trend is visible in Europe and also in Finland, according to the PRC estimates. The number of Muslims in Finland is expected to increase by a factor of nearly five between 2010 and 2050 – from 40,000 or 0.7 percent of the population to 190,000 or 3.4 percent.
This growth is still very small compared to the rest of Europe, where Muslims will make up 10 percent of the population in 2050 compared to 5.9 percent in 2010.
Muslim population growth faster than global population expansion
PRC attributed to the rapid growth in adherents to Islam to their faster rate of population growth than the global average. The world’s total population is pegged to grow at 35 percent between 2010 and 2050.
By contrast the Muslim population – a comparatively youthful population with high fertility rates, according to PRC – will increase by 73 percent. The number of Christians will also rise, but more slowly, at around 35 percent – the same rate as the global population.
According to the research group’s projections, Europe is the only part of the world where the total population appears to be declining by the year 2050. Moreover the number of people claiming to be Christian in Europe will decline by around 100 million, from 553 million to 454 million by 2050.
Christians still largest group in Finland and Europe
However while Christians will remain the largest religious group in Europe, their share of the population will fall from nearly 75 percent in 2010 to just under two-thirds (65.2 percent) by 2050. In Finland, Christians will account for 72 percent of the population in 2050, down from some 80 percent in 2010.
By the year 2050 some 23 percent of people living in Europe will not subscribe to any religion. In Finland that proportion will rise to around 26 percent, up from nearly 12 percent in 2010.
The projections show little or no change in the numbers of Jews, Buddhists, and followers of folk and other religions in Finland between 2010 and 2050. Overall, the research shows a very small growth in the Finnish population - from 5.36 million in 2010 to 5.57 million in 2050, representing just under four percent.
The demographic estimates relating to Finland were based on data supplied by Statistics Finland (2010), the International Social Survey Programme (2008), and the 2010 Population Register and 2008 European Values Survey.
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