Islam: The World’s Fastest-Growing Religion from 2010 to 2020
Joseph Kwon (Editorial Board Member)
According to new estimates from the Pew Research Center, Islam was the fastest-growing major religious group in the world between 2010 and 2020. Muslims remained the world’s second-largest religious group, after Christians.
During the ten years from 2010 to 2020, the global Muslim population increased by 347 million, reaching approximately 2 billion. During the same period, the Christian population increased by 122 million, reaching approximately 2.3 billion. In contrast, Buddhists were the only major religious group analyzed whose absolute population declined, decreasing by approximately 19 million to 324 million.
The estimates covered 201 countries and territories, representing 99.98% of the world’s population. The Pew Research Center focused on seven groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, people of other religions, and people with no religious affiliation.
In particular, the increase of 347 million Muslims over the decade was greater than the combined increase of all non-Muslim religious populations, which totaled 248 million. By 2020, the number of Muslims added during the previous decade alone had surpassed the total global Buddhist population of 324 million.
The rapid growth of the Muslim population has also narrowed the population gap between Muslims and Christians worldwide.
In 2010, Muslims accounted for 23.9% of the world’s population, while Christians accounted for 30.6%. By 2020, the Muslim share had increased to 25.6%, while the Christian share had decreased to 28.8%.
The Pew Research Center explains that the growth of the Christian population has slowed partly because of high rates of religious disaffiliation.
## Why Is the Global Muslim Population Growing So Rapidly?
The rapid growth of the global Muslim population is primarily explained by demographic factors. Compared with members of other major religious groups, Muslims tend to have more children and a younger median age.
Based on data from 2015 to 2020, Muslim women were estimated to have an average of 2.9 children over their lifetime, compared with 2.2 children for non-Muslim women.
In addition, as of 2020, the global Muslim population had a median age of 24, which was nine years younger than the median age of the non-Muslim population, at 33. This younger population structure and relatively higher fertility rate have been important factors in the growth of the Muslim population.
At the same time, global changes in the Muslim population are much more closely related to demographic factors such as fertility and age structure than to religious conversion or religious switching.
Based on survey data collected from 117 countries and territories between 2008 and 2024, an estimated 1% of people raised as Muslims leave Islam. The population decline resulting from religious switching away from Islam is offset by people converting to Islam.
## The Geographic Distribution of Muslims
As of 2020, the Asia-Pacific region had the largest Muslim population in the world, with approximately 1.2 billion Muslims living there.
This was followed by the Middle East and North Africa, with approximately 414 million Muslims, and Sub-Saharan Africa, with approximately 369 million Muslims. This made Sub-Saharan Africa the third-largest regional population of Muslims.
Although the Muslim populations of Europe and North America are much smaller than those of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa, the Muslim population in these regions grew much faster than their non-Muslim populations between 2010 and 2020.
The region with the highest proportion of Muslims was the Middle East and North Africa, where approximately 94% of the population was Muslim in 2020.
However, despite the close association between Islam and the Middle East and North Africa, only about one-fifth of the world’s Muslims live in this region. A significant portion of the global Muslim population actually lives in other parts of Asia and Africa.
## Countries with the Largest Muslim Populations
As of 2020, the countries with the largest Muslim populations were all located outside the Middle East and North Africa.
Indonesia had the world’s largest Muslim population, with approximately 239 million Muslims, followed by Pakistan with 227 million, India with 213 million, and Bangladesh with 151 million.
This demonstrates that the countries with the largest Muslim populations are not concentrated in the Middle East but rather in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
As of 2020, Muslims constituted a majority of the population in 53 countries and territories around the world.
## The Importance of Mission to Muslims
When we view mission from the perspective of God’s unfolding plan throughout history, mission stands at the forefront of spiritual warfare.
And spiritual warfare concerns every ideology and worldview that stands in opposition to God.
Today, approximately 2 billion Muslims live throughout the world, and the Muslim population continues to grow, particularly in regions with younger populations. Furthermore, the fact that a significant proportion of the world’s Muslims live beyond the Middle East and North Africa, across various parts of Asia and Africa, shows that understanding Islam and proclaiming the gospel to Muslims is not a mission limited to any particular region.
Therefore, the Church must seek to understand Islam accurately, approach Muslims with cultural respect, demonstrate genuine love and practical service, and at the same time clearly proclaim the essence of the gospel.
The rapid growth of the Muslim population in the world shows that the Church must make its missionary focus increasingly clear in this generation and take up its historical responsibility to engage the front lines of spiritual warfare.
Jesus said:
> “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
> — Matthew 16:18
