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		1800	1900	1970	mid-2000	Trend % p.a.	24-hour change	mid-2008	2025
GLOBAL POPULATION
1. Total population		903,650,000	1,619,625,000	3,696,595,000	6,085,572,000	1.19	219,000	6,691,484,000	7,905,234,000
2.	Urban dwellers (urbanites)	36,146,000	232,695,000	1,336,655,000	2,873,249,000	2.01	185,000	3,368,561,000	4,616,329,000
3.	Rural dwellers	867,504,000	1,386,930,000	2,359,940,000	3,212,323,000	0.42	34,000	3,322,923,000	3,288,905,000
4. Adult population (over 15s)		619,000,000	1,073,621,000	2,315,771,000	4,257,127,000	1.58	208,000	4,824,675,000	5,995,477,000
5.	Literates	123,800,000	296,146,000	1,478,532,000	3,263,248,000	1.69	172,000	3,730,397,000	5,053,723,000
6.	Nonliterates	495,200,000	777,475,000	837,239,000	993,879,000	1.21	36,000	1,094,278,000	941,754,000
WORLDWIDE EXPANSION OF CITIES
7. Metropolises (over 100,000 population)		40	300	2,400	4,050	1.88	0.2	4,700	6,500
8. Megacities (over 1 million population)		1	20	161	402	1.97	0.03	470	650
9. Urban poor		18 million	100 million	650 million	1,400 million	3.12	153,000	1,790 million	3,000 million
10. Urban slumdwellers		3 million	20 million	260 million	700 million	3.33	83,000	910 million	1,600 million
GLOBAL POPULATION BY RELIGION
11. Total of all distinct organized religions		700	1,000	6,000	9,900	1.67	0.5	11,300	15,000
12. Christians (total all kinds) (=World C)		204,980,000	558,153,000	1,233,135,000	2,013,132,000	1.30	79,000	2,231,421,000	2,670,312,000
13. Muslims		90,500,000	199,914,000	549,687,000	1,226,046,000	1.78	69,000	1,412,301,000	1,861,186,000
14. Hindus		108,000,000	203,003,000	464,384,000	798,610,000	1.33	32,000	887,991,000	1,065,370,000
15. Nonreligious		300,000	3,024,000	532,810,000	764,483,000	0.05	1,000	767,470,000	803,645,000
16. Chinese universists		310,000,000	380,007,000	231,848,000	367,967,000	0.65	6,900	387,448,000	429,381,000
17. Buddhists		69,400,000	127,077,000	233,079,000	366,625,000	0.81	8,700	391,122,000	456,705,000
18. Ethnoreligionists		92,000,000	117,537,000	165,389,000	241,554,000	1.00	7,200	261,566,000	279,010,000
19. Atheists		10,000	226,000	165,391,000	145,375,000	0.20	800	147,766,000	147,659,000
20. New-Religionists (Neoreligionists)		0	5,951,000	78,324,000	101,044,000	0.69	2,000	106,730,000	117,573,000
21. Sikhs		1,800,000	2,962,000	10,677,000	20,484,000	1.48	900	23,040,000	28,440,000
22. Jews		9,000,000	12,292,000	15,097,000	14,035,000	0.87	360	15,044,000	17,287,000
23. Non-Christians (=Worlds A and B)		698,670,000	1,061,472,000	2,463,460,000	4,072,440,000	1.14	140,000	4,460,063,000	5,234,922,000
GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY
24. Total Christians as % of world (=World C)		22.7	34.5	33.4	33.1	0.10	0.0	33.3	33.8
25. Affiliated Christians (church members)		195,680,000	521,664,000	1,124,035,000	1,901,543,000	1.33	77,000	2,113,199,000	2,549,094,000
26.	Church attenders	180,100,000	469,303,000	885,777,000	1,359,420,000	1.04	42,000	1,476,690,000	1,760,568,000
27.	Evangelicals	25,000,000	71,726,000	98,314,000	217,874,000	1.96	14,000	254,538,000	344,641,000
28.	Great Commission Christians	21,000,000	77,917,000	277,153,000	639,672,000	0.95	18,000	689,980,000	852,881,000
29.	Pentecostals/Charismatics/Neocharismatics	0	981,000	68,272,000	505,001,000	2.21	36,000	601,652,000	798,299,000
30. Average Christian martyrs per year		2,500	34,400	377,000	160,000	1.13	480	175,000	210,000
MEMBERSHIP BY 6 ECCLESIASTICAL MEGABLOCS
31. Roman Catholics		106,430,000	266,568,000	665,478,000	1,052,924,000	0.89	28,000	1,130,401,000	1,331,080,000
32. Independents		400,000	7,931,000	92,301,000	345,679,000	2.55	29,000	422,659,000	576,415,000
33. Protestants		30,980,000	103,024,000	210,972,000	344,211,000	1.46	16,000	386,644,000	485,489,000
34. Orthodox		55,220,000	115,844,000	139,950,000	238,481,000	0.74	5,000	252,891,000	261,111,000
35. Anglicans		11,910,000	30,571,000	47,409,000	75,117,000	1.21	3,000	82,708,000	107,696,000
36. Marginal Christians		40,000	928,000	11,096,000	30,421,000	2.13	2,000	36,001,000	51,444,000
MEMBERSHIP BY 6 CONTINENTS, 21 UN REGIONS
37. Africa (5 regions)		4,330,000	8,756,000	116,538,000	350,091,000	2.41	28,000	423,675,000	627,557,000
38. Asia (4 regions)		8,350,000	20,781,000	92,497,000	292,443,000	2.45	24,000	355,008,000	474,745,000
39. Europe (including Russia; 4 regions)		171,700,000	368,209,000	467,922,000	550,729,000	0.13	2,000	556,359,000	537,144,000
40. Latin America (3 regions)		14,900,000	60,027,000	263,549,000	479,137,000	1.27	18,000	530,187,000	634,354,000
41. Northern America (1 region)		5,600,000	59,570,000	168,942,000	208,282,000	0.71	4,000	220,374,000	245,693,000
42. Oceania (4 regions)		100,000	4,322,000	14,587,000	20,858,000	1.11	1,000	22,788,000	26,595,000
CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS
43. Denominations		500	1,900	18,700	33,700	1.84	2.0	39,000	55,000
44. Congregations (worship centers)		150,000	400,000	1,453,000	3,191,000	1.81	180	3,684,000	5,000,000
45. Service agencies		600	1,500	14,100	23,000	2.02	1.5	27,000	36,000
46.	Foreign-mission sending agencies	200	600	2,200	4,000	1.62	0.2	4,550	6,000
CONCILIARISM: ONGOING COUNCILS OF CHURCHES
47. Confessional councils (CWCs, at world level)		20	40	150	310	1.53	0.01	350	600
48. International councils of churches		0	10	36	59	1.10	0.002	64	80
49. National councils of churches		0	19	283	598	1.50	0.03	670	870
50. Local councils of churches		0	70	2,600	9,000	2.20	0.6	10,700	15,500
CHRISTIAN WORKERS (clergy, laypersons)
51. Nationals (citizens; all denominations)		900,000	2,100,000	4,600,000	10,900,000	1.07	347	11,866,000	14,000,000
52.	Men	800,000	1,900,000	3,100,000	6,540,000	0.84	161	6,994,000	8,000,000
53.	Women	100,000	200,000	1,500,000	4,360,000	1.40	185	4,872,000	6,000,000
54. Aliens (foreign missionaries)		25,000	62,000	240,000	420,000	1.09	14	458,000	550,000
55.	Men	21,000	47,000	160,000	240,000	0.46	3	249,000	270,000
56.	Women	4,000	15,000	80,000	180,000	1.88	11	209,000	280,000
CHRISTIAN FINANCE (in US$, per year)
57. Personal income of church members, $		40 billion	270 billion	4,100 billion	15,230 billion	2.23	50 billion	18,170 billion	26,000 billion
58. Giving to Christian causes, $		1 billion	8 billion	70 billion	270 billion	4.70	1.1 billion	390 billion	870 billion
59.	Churches' income, $	950 million	7 billion	50 billion	108 billion	4.19	410 million	150 billion	300 billion
60.	Parachurch and institutional income, $	50 million	1 billion	20 billion	162 billion	5.04	660 million	240 billion	570 billion
61. Cost-effectiveness (cost per baptism, $)		7,500	17,500	128,000	330,000	0.56	5	345,000	380,000
62. Ecclesiastical crime, $		100,000	300,000	5,000,000	16 billion	5.77	70 million	25 billion	65 billion
63. Income of global foreign missions, $		25,000,000	200,000,000	3.0 billion	15 billion	5.70	60 million	23 billion	60 billion
64. Computers in Christian use (numbers)		0	0	1,000	328 million	5.67	79,000	510 million	1,200 million
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE (titles, not copies)
65. Books about Christianity		75,000	300,000	1,800,000	4,800,000	3.66	600	6,401,000	11,800,000
66. Christian periodicals		800	3,500	23,000	35,000	4.30	5.8	49,000	100,000
SCRIPTURE DISTRIBUTION (all sources, per year)
67. Bibles, p.a.		500,000	5,452,600	25,000,000	53,700,000	4.96	216,000	79,081,000	180,000,000
68. Scriptures including gospels, selections		1,500,000	20 million	281 million	4,600 million	1.07	13 million	4,790 million	6,000 million
69. Bible density (copies in place)		20 million	108 million	443 million	1,400 million	2.00	90,000	1,640 million	2,280 million
CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING
70. Total monthly listeners/viewers		0	0	750,000,000	2,150,000,000	2.31	163,000	2,580,000,000	3,800,000,000
CHRISTIAN URBAN MISSION
71. Non-Christian megacities		1	5	65	226	1.14	0.01	247	300
72. New non-Christian urban dwellers per day		500	5,200	51,100	129,000	1.73	7.0	148,000	200,000
73. Urban Christians		5,500,000	159,600,000	660,800,000	1,160,000,000	1.59	57,000	1,316,000,000	1,720,000,000
CHRISTIAN EVANGELISM (per year)
74. Evangelism-hours per year		600 million	5 billion	25 billion	165 billion	3.66	600 million	220 billion	425 billion
75. Hearer-hours (offers) per year		900 million	10 billion	99 billion	938 billion	6.22	4.2 billion	1,520 billion	4,250 billion
76. Disciple-opportunities (offers) per capita p.a.		1	6	27	154	4.97	0.6	227	538
WORLD EVANGELIZATION
77. Unevangelized population (=World A)		674,350,000	879,672,000	1,638,575,000	1,722,254,000	1.04	53,000	1,871,208,000	2,160,412,000
78. Unevangelized as % of world		74.6	54.3	44.3	28.3	-0.15	0.0	28.0	27.3
79. World evangelization plans since AD 30		160	250	510	1,500	2.79	0.1	1,870	3,000

David B. Barrett, a contributing editor, works at the World Evangelization Research Center, Richmond, Virginia. Todd M. Johnson, a YWAM missionary, works at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Definitions and capitalization conventions are derived from the World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford University Press, 1982; 2d ed., 2001) and World Christian Trends (William Carey Library, 2001).

Source: International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January 2008. David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson.
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