1. Orthodox Christianity’s geographic center remains in Central and Eastern Europe

While the worldwide population of all non-Orthodox Christians has virtually quadrupled since 1910, the Orthodox population has merely doubled, from approximately 124 million to 260 million. And as the geographical center of the overall Christian popula…

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Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century

Concentrated in Europe, Orthodox Christians have declined as share of the global Christian population, from 20% in 1910 to 12% today. But the Ethiopian community is highly observant and growing.

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Acknowledgments

This report was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. Funding for the Global Religious Futures project comes from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation. This report is a collaborative effort based on […]

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Methodology

Pew Research Center measured relationships between religion and government in 199 countries and self-administering territories, using data for the year ending Dec. 31, 2015. They include the 193 member states of the United Nations as of 2015, plus six self-administering territories – Kosovo, Hong Kong, Macau, the Palestinian territories, Taiwan and Western Sahara. The study […]

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Many Countries Favor Specific Religions, Officially or Unofficially

Islam is the most common state religion, but many governments give privileges to Christianity.

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U.S. Protestants Are Not Defined by Reformation-Era Controversies 500 Years Later

Five hundred years after the start of the Protestant Reformation, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that U.S. Protestants are not united about – and in some cases, are not even aware of – some of the controversies that were central to the historical schism between Protestantism and Catholicism. Indeed, half a millennium after […]

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