Updates

Data on the adherents of each religion in each country are now available for the additional two data points of 2015 and 2020.

The religion over time series now includes the years 1900, 1950, 1970, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2050.

The additional years are part of the preparation for changing the "base year" of the World Christian Database from 2010 to 2015, a move that is planned to take place in 2014.

Until then, the additional years do not appear by default in the sample religion queries, but they are available for users to add as required.

See in particular the Religion over time home page for sample queries to which 2015 and 2020 can be added.

Also, a topical sample spreadsheet (available for a limited time) showing Roman Catholics by UN Region, 1900-2020 utilizes the new 2020 data and includes 50-year and 10-year average annual growth rates to 2020.

Evangelicals are defined in the World Christian Database as "a subdivision mainly of Protestants consisting of all affiliated church members calling themselves Evangelicals, or all persons belonging to Evangelical congregations, churches or denominations; characterized by commitment to personal religion."

Some denominations are thus 100% Evangelical through their membership of bodies like the World Evangelical Alliance. Other denominations have smaller evangelical movements within them: individuals who identify as an Evangelical or who also attend an evangelical denomination.

Six new fields show the percentage and total number of affiliated Christians in 1970, 2000, and 2005 who are Evangelical, for each denomination. This extends the available time frame back from the 2010 data which was made available last year.

The fields are available for adding to any query that includes denominations data, and can also be seen in the 'Renewal' tab of the Denominations detail screens.

There is also a sample query called "Evangelicals by Denomination over time" on the Denominations home page. In some denominations the percentage change over time appears very small, and so the raw total numbers give a better impression of growth.