The number of babies born to Muslim mothers is set to surpass that of Christian births in the next 20 years, making Islam the world's largest religion by the year 2075, a new analysis of Pew Research Center data suggests. Currently, more babies are born to Christian mothers than anyone else in the world, but the trend is set to change.
The research suggested that the number of people with no religious affiliations will lessen as a proportion of the world's population in future due to their declining birth rate, and increasing number of Muslims and Christians.
The research analysis showed that there are set to be modest but significant demographic changes in people's religious affiliations over the coming years, as the population in the global south continues to rapidly increase. Reports state that the Christian population in Europe is ageing and dying at an increasing rate.
According to the data, an estimated 31 percent of babies born in the world between the year 2010 and 2015 were of Muslim parents, which exceeded the 24 percent share of Muslim population in the world. Reports state that in the same period, around 33 percent of the world's babies were born to Christian mothers, the figure is only slightly more than their 31 percent share of the global population, the Guardian reported.
However, these figures are set to change because of the relatively young age profile of Muslims and their higher fertility rates. Data stated that between 2030 and 2035, more babies will be born to Muslim mothers than to Christians. This gap is expected to broaden between 2055 and 2060, where an expected number of 232 million babies will be born to Muslims and 226 million will be born to Christians.
"In contrast with [the] baby boom among Muslims, people who do not identify with any religion are experiencing a much different trend," said Pew.
People who are not affiliated with any religion make 16 percent of the global population. However, they only produce 10 percent of the world's babies.
"This dearth of newborns among the unaffiliated helps explain why religious 'nones' (including people who identify as atheist or agnostic, as well as those who have no particular religion) are projected to decline as a share of the world's population in the coming decades," the research stated.
