India to become the country with highest Muslims by…; its population is estimated to be….; Hindu population to…

New Delhi: The world’s population is growing at an accelerated rate, leading to significant changes in global demographics. This increase brings both challenges and opportunities for nations, influencing various aspects of society, the economy, and the environment. Meanwhile, Earth is home to a diverse range of religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Sikhism. But did you know India will have the largest Muslim population by 2050? Read this story to know more…

India to become the country with highest Muslims by…; its population is estimated to be….; Hindu population to …

As per a report by the Pew Research Center, India is projected to surpass Indonesia and become the country with the highest Muslim population by 2050, with an estimated 311 million Muslims. In the same report, titled ‘The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,’ Pakistan is expected to have the second-largest Muslim population, reaching 273 million. Indonesia, which had the largest Muslim population in 2010, is expected to drop to third place with 257 million Muslims by 2050.

The report also highlights that Hindus are expected to become the third-largest religious group globally. By 2050, India will have 310 million Muslims, accounting for 11% of the global Muslim population. Additionally, India is projected to maintain the largest Hindu population, which will grow to 1.03 billion. Currently, Indonesia holds the title for the country with the largest Muslim population.

A study by the Pew Research Center attributes the rising Muslim population primarily to the younger age and higher fertility rate. The average age of Muslims is 22 years, compared to 26 years for Hindus and 28 years for Christians. In India, Muslim women have an average of 3.2 children per woman, while Hindu women have 2.5 children, and Christian women have 2.3 children on average.

Speaking of the report, the global Hindu population is expected to grow from just over 1 billion in 2010 to nearly 1.4 billion by 2050, keeping pace with the overall population increase. Consequently, as a result, Hindus will remain fairly stable as a share of the world’s population over the next four decades, at about 15% in both 2010 and 2050.

In 2010, India and Nepal were the only countries where Hindus constituted the majority of the population, and they are anticipated to remain the only Hindu-majority countries in 2050.

In 2010, Hindus were the largest religious group in the Asia-Pacific region. However, by 2050, Muslims are projected to outnumber Hindus in the region. “The annual growth rate of the world’s population is expected to decline gradually in the coming decades, falling from 1.1% in 2010-2015 to 0.4% in 2045-2050. The annual growth rate of Hindus is expected to remain roughly on par with world population growth through 2030-2035, after which it is projected to drop below the worldwide level. By 2045, Hindus are expected to be growing by about 0.2% annually, or roughly half as fast as the global population overall, largely as a result of declining fertility rates in India, ” reads the report.

Speaking of regional distribution of Hindus, slight decreases are forecast for sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and the Caribbean in 2050.

Hindus are anticipated to make up about 77% of India’s population in 2050, down slightly from 80% in 2010. As of 2010, more than 99% of all Hindus lived in the 10 countries with the largest numbers of Hindus. Outside of India, the countries with the largest Hindu populations in 2010 were Nepal (24.2 million, or 2% of the world’s Hindus) and Bangladesh (12.7 million, or 1% of the world’s Hindus). The only countries outside the Asia-Pacific region that ranked among the top 10 largest Hindu populations as of 2010 were the United States and the United Kingdom.

By 2050, the United States – with 4.8 million Hindus – is expected to have the world’s fifth-largest Hindu population. In addition, Canada, with a projected 1 million Hindus in 2050, is forecast to join the list of countries with the 10 largest Hindu populations.

Due to the high fertility rate, the Muslim population in India is expected to grow rapidly. In 2010, Muslims accounted for 14.4% of the total population, and by 2050, this is expected to rise to 18.4%.

Reports suggest that India’s Hindu population is expected to surpass the Muslim populations of the largest Muslim-majority countries, including India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh. The report also indicates that India’s Christian population, which currently stands at 2.5% of the total population, will decrease to 2.3% by 2050.

According to the study, with a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.4 children per woman, Hindus have about the same fertility levels as the world’s overall population (2.5) in the 2010-2015 period.  The study reads,”Between 2040 and 2050, the global Hindu TFR is expected to drop to 1.8, which is below the replacement level and will slow the growth of the Hindu population. This trend reflects United Nations expectations about future fertility patterns in India, where most Hindus reside.”