The religious composition of the United States is remarkably diverse. Approximately half of the population is unaffiliated, while more than one-third is affiliated with a Christian denomination. The majority of Christians are white, but there are significant numbers of people of color and Hispanic Christians. Multiracial Christians account for another 4% of the population. AAPI and Native American Christians make up a further 1% of Americans. The remaining three-quarters of the population are unaffiliated or do not practice any religion.
How Many Christians in The U.S?
Unaffiliated
A new report suggests that in 2070, 46% of American citizens will identify as Christian, while 39% of the population will be unaffiliated. This suggests that the unaffiliated group would outnumber Christians, which are now the majority. However, the report also shows that disaffiliation is not limited to one religion.
According to the survey, the percentage of Americans who do not identify as Christian has grown by more than 10 percentage points in the last decade. While Christians still constitute a majority of the population, their percentage of the adult population has decreased by 12 percentage points. In addition, the percentage of adults who say their religion is important is decreasing.
The number of religiously unaffiliated people continues to grow and could reach a majority of the population by 2070, according to a Pew study. Pew’s projections take into account the rate of conversion and disaffiliation. In other words, disaffiliation is likely to increase dramatically in the U.S. if dramatic events occur that cause more people to become unaffiliated.
Moreover, increasing numbers of American adults do not identify as Christian, but nevertheless practice religion on a regular basis. In fact, 43 percent of the unaffiliated generation and 36 percent of the unaffiliated millennials report that they grew up without any religious affiliation. By contrast, eighty-four percent of baby boomers were religiously raised.
Number of Christians
There are a variety of ways to categorize the number of Christians in the U.S. There are three main categories of Christians. The first is active Christians, which comprise about 19 percent of the Christian population. Active Christians identify with their religious tradition through regular church attendance. Active Christians read their Bibles, invest in their personal faith development through their church, and accept leadership positions in their churches. They also believe that they have an obligation to evangelize others. The second category of Christians is professing Christians, which represents twenty percent of the population.
As of July 1, 2019, there were 256 million adults in the U.S. The majority of these people are Christians, but the number of non-Christians has been increasing. Pew Research Center estimates that there are 167 million Christians in the U.S. The margin of error for these estimates is about one percentage point. During the past decade, the number of religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S. has increased by about 30 million.
Another important point to remember is that there is no single cause for this shift. A variety of factors, including demographic trends, can cause the percentage of Christians to fluctuate. For example, declining birth rates and the migration of non-Christians, among other things, can lead to a decline in the number of Christians in the U.S.
Number of Christians of all ages
A recent study found that 83% of Christians make their first commitment to Christ during their youth. This number may surprise some, but it is important to note that Christians make their commitments in a wide variety of ways. For instance, children aged five to 13 are the most likely to accept Christ, according to the Barna Research Group. However, teens and adults aged 19 and older are much less likely to convert.
As a result, the number of Christians in the U.S. is expected to decline by about 10% over the next several decades. However, it is important to note that Christians will remain the largest religious group in the country. By 2070, they will only make up 46% of the population, while those who are nonreligious will make up 41%.
According to Pew Research Center’s projections, the number of Christians in the U.S. would be around 12 to 13 percent, a higher percentage than that of non-Christians. The percentage of non-Christians will fluctuate over time, and is heavily influenced by immigration. Most migrants to the U.S. come from other countries, and most are Christians. The study notes that the numbers are based on data, and are not predictions.
Although white Christians make up the largest percentage of Americans, they are not uniformly Christian. African American Protestants make up about 8% of the population, while Hispanic Protestants make up about five percent of Americans under thirty. AAPI and Native American Christians each make up about one percent.
Number of Christians of color
A new study shows that the number of Christians of color in the U.S. has increased by almost 30 percent since 1991. While the number of Protestants is still mostly white, the number of Christians of color has risen steadily from 17 percent in 1991 to 33 percent in 2016. The study uses survey data collected from more than 101,000 people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The proportion of white Christians has been declining for decades, with the percentage falling by about 11 percent per decade. In 1996, nearly two-thirds of white Americans identified as Christians. By 2010, that percentage was 43%, and by 2020, it will be down to 38%. The proportion of white Christians has risen slightly over the past three years, but it is still below the historic high of eight in ten.
While white Protestants are more likely to identify as Christians than Christians of color, Asian-Americans are twice as likely to be religiously unaffiliated. Of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander population, one in five are non-Christian, including Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews. A further one-tenth are religiously unaffiliated.
According to the PRRI study, the number of white evangelical Protestants will decline by nearly five percent by 2020. In the meantime, white Christians will hold steady at about 18 percent, while the percentage of Christians of color will decline to around seven percent.
Number of non-Christian religious people
While the United States has historically been a predominantly Christian country, the percentage of non-Christian religious people is growing. According to Pew Research Center, by 2070, the percentage of Christians in the United States will fall below fifty percent, leaving the non-Christian religious group as the largest religious group in the country. In 2020, the percentage of religiously unaffiliated people in the United States will be nearly three-fifths of the total, while adherents of all other religions will account for 6% of the total population. In recent years, large numbers of Americans have abandoned Christianity to join the growing ranks of atheists and non-religious people. In fact, if the current trends are continued, the number of non-Christian religious people in the United states could double by 2070.
This dramatic shift is happening as Christians age, resulting in fewer people being born into the church. In the last decade, the percentage of Christians has declined from 52 percent to 40 percent. In contrast, the percentage of non-Christian religious people has risen from sixteen percent in 2007 to forty percent in 2021.
Pew Research Center has been studying the changing religious landscape in the United States for a number of years. Its latest data are from the 2021 and 2020 National Public Opinion Reference Surveys, which were conducted through online and mail. Survey participants were chosen using address-based sampling and were surveyed from May 29 to August 25, 2021.