New Pew Forum Report Estimates the Size and Distribution of the Worldwide Christian Population

For Immediate Release
December 15, 2011

Washington, D.C. — In a noon EST conference call for journalists on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life will discuss the findings contained in its new study, Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population, which offers the most current and fully sourced estimates of the worldwide Christian population as of 2010. The comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries provides data on the world’s Christian population by region, country and tradition and graphically illustrates Christian geographic distribution. Findings are based primarily on a country-by-country analysis of approximately 2,400 data sources, including censuses and nationally representative population surveys. The report will be accompanied by an online quiz providing an opportunity for Web visitors to test their knowledge of Christianity around the world.

Global Christianity is part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, an effort funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation to analyze religious change and its impact on societies around the world.

Telephone News Conference 

WHO:
Luis Lugo, Director, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Alan Cooperman, Associate Director for Research, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Conrad Hackett, Demographer, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

WHEN:
Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, noon EST

RSVP INSTRUCTIONS:
Please send your full name, title, the name of your publication or organization, where you are based and your contact information to Liga Plaveniece at lplaveniece@pewresearch.org/religion to reserve your place.

The online presentation of the Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population, which includes an executive summary and interactive maps, will be made available to the public at pewresearch.org/religion at noon EST on Dec. 19.

The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life conducts surveys, demographic analyses and other social science research on important aspects of religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world. As part of the Washington-based Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy organization, the Pew Forum does not take positions on any of the issues it covers or on policy debates.