Buddhism
The
Australian Bureau of Statistics through statistical analysis held
Buddhism to be the fastest growing spiritual tradition/religion in
Australia in terms of percentage gain with a growth of 79.1% for the period 1996 to 2001 (200,000→358,000).
[2]
[edit] Christianity
[edit] Hinduism
The Australian claim for Buddism above has now been superseded by the 2006 census data, which gives the highest percentage gain to Hinduism, with a 193% increase over the 15 years from 1991 to 2006. This is, however, from a small base.
[5] The increase may be due to immigration of Hindus from India.
[edit] Islam
Data for
Islam reveal that the growing number of Muslims is due primarily to immigration (in the West) and higher birth rates (worldwide).
[6].
- In 2006, countries with a Muslim majority had an average population growth rate of 1.8% per year (when weighted by percentage Muslim and population size).[7] This compares with a world population growth rate of 1.12% per year.[8]
- According to the "Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life"[9]
“
Islam is already the fastest-growing religion in Europe. Driven by immigration and high birthrates, the number of Muslims on the continent has tripled in the last 30 years. Most demographers forecast a similar or even higher rate of growth in the coming decades.”
- Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiles the Vatican's yearbook, said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population -- a stable percentage -- while Muslims were at 19.2 percent. "It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said. [11]
[edit] Wicca
- The American Religious Identification Survey gives Wicca an average annual growth of 143% / 11,454 for the period 1990 to 2001 (8,000→134,000 - U.S. data / similar for Canada & Australia).[1][12]
[edit] Non-Religious
- The American Religious Identification Survey gave Non-Religious groups the largest gain in terms of absolute numbers - 14,300,000 (8.4% of the population) to 29,400,000 (14.1% of the population) for the period 1990 to 2001 in the USA.[1][12].
- In Australia, census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics gives "no religion" the largest gains in absolute numbers over the 15 years from 1991 to 2006. from 2,948,888 (18.2% of the population that answered the question) to 3,706,555 (21.0% of the population that answered the question).[13]
