A new research found that out of the 660 million evangelical Christians in the world, more than 60% of them live in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
French researcher Sebastian Fath published a study showing that about 123 million evangelicals live in South America, mostly in Brazil (47 million), Argentina (5 million), and Guatemala (5 million). Roughly 215 million live in Asia—China (66 million), India (28 million), Indonesia (16 million), and the Philippines (13 million), reports Christian Headlines.
Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century. —Sebastian Fath report
It’s interesting to note that despite the extreme persecution against Christians in China, it has the largest population of evangelicals in Asia. An article in Nikkei Asian Review said Christianity is growing in the communist country that authorities worry that the religion may be more influential than the party.
The Chinese government has implemented all sorts of regulations and policies to hamper the growth of Christianity, including rewriting the Bible, destroying churches and banning Sunday schools. Although the country’s constitution allows citizens to “enjoy freedom of religious belief,” it also states that, “No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state.”
Fath’s study concludes that Christianity is spreading beyond North America and to the global South instead. This echoes the findings of a Pew Research Center report claiming that the faith reaches countries outside the United States.
In North America, there are 107 million evangelicals, mostly living in the US (93 million), Mexico (10 million) and Canada (4 million). Meanwhile, Europe has 23 million evangelicals, and most of them are in the United Kingdom (5 million), reports Facts and Trends.
According to the report, “Christianity has grown enormously in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, where there were relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century.”
Biblical scholar N.T. Wright said, “Christianity is flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa, in Southeast Asia, in Latin America, in all sorts of ways. And I think we in the West need to not say, ‘Oh well, they’re a bit behind and they need to catch up with us.’ We need to say, ‘Maybe it’s we who’ve gone a bit over the hill and we need to be reminded of where the action really is.”
