Updates

The World Christian database is updated twice a year, following research cycles.

WCD Citations in 2017
01 Jan 2018

Recent citations of the World Christian Database include The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.


Recent citations of the World Christian Database include many articles focussing on the Reformation including in-depth essays on Luther's legacy today in The Economist ("Protestantism shaped the development of the modern liberal West. What does its current revival mean for the developing world?") and in the Christian Science Monitor "Luther’s legacy- How people use the Bible today, 500 years after a monk sparked the Protestant Reformation".

Religious demographics from WCD are often key background information for understanding world events, for example in the Wall Street Journal 's article "Pope’s Support for Muslim Refugees Faces Resistance in Myanmar", or form the basis of more detailed analysis such as Pew Forum 's "Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century".

Links to a range of citations back to 2012 can be seen at the Center for the Study of Global Christianty's media page

Meanwhile, the major data update this quarter sees the denominations listings in many countries further streamlined by consolidating hundreds of smaller denominations (sometimes with single congregations acting autonomously while looking for international expansion) into the 'other Independent' or 'other Protestant' denominaitons. The denominations are still named, but are seen as sub-denominations of those 'other' categories.


Population update
01 Oct 2017

WCD has incorporated the latest (2017) population revision from the United Nations.


The populations of every religion in every country are freshly reconciled with each biennial revision of the population data produced by the UN: (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision).

This WCD update provides the latest re-reconciliation of statistics on Christian denominations and world religions together with projections of all religious adherents for 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2050.

The pace of work on the forthcoming 3rd edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia (2020) continues to ramp up with collaborators from each of the 234 countries providing valuable input on Christian denominations and the state of the church in each country's context.


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Religions

Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.

Countries and regions

Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.

Denominations

Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.

Cities & provinces

Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.

Peoples & languages

Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.

Archive

A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.