The number of babies born to Muslims is expected to overtake those born to Christians within two decades, making Islam the world’s largest religion, according to a new analysis.
There are now 2.2 billion Christians in the world. Islam is on its heels with 1.97 billion.
But due to a higher Muslim fertility rate (2.9 children per woman on average, versus 2.6), Pew Research projects that sometime around 2075, Islam will be the world’s dominant religion.
The projections did not assume that all babies would retain the religion of their parents, but attempted to take religious switching into account, although “conversion patterns are complex and varied”, said Pew.
