Islam projected to be world’s largest religion by 2050

A Pew Research Center study, “The Future of World Religions,” projected the global Muslim population is estimated to rise to over two billion by 2050. This will make Muslims the largest religious community in the world.

As per the study, Islam, which is currently the second largest religion in the world, with a population of 1,599,700,000, according to a 2010 report, will add another 1,161,780,000 people to its population in the next 25 years, increasing the Muslim population to over two billion by the year 2050, and making Islam the most dominant religion globally.

Christianity, presently the world’s largest religious community, with a headcount of 2,168,330,000 Christians, or roughly 31.4 percent of the total global population, is estimated to surge by around 80 crore by 2050, as per the report.

This will push Christians to the second place on the global list of largest religious communities, the report said, adding that Christians will have a population of 2,918,070,000 by 2050, a difference of 74,97,40,000 from 2010 to 2050.

According to the study, factors such as the rapid surge in the Muslim population, that include the and high fertility rate is responsible for the increase. The study highlighted Muslim women have a fertility rate of 3.1, followed by Christian women at 2.7.

India is projected to have the largest Muslim population, estimated to exceed 310 million. Despite this increase, Hinduism will remain the country’s largest religion, with approximately 77% of the population identifying as Hindu, while Muslims will make up about 18%, forming the second-largest religious group.