Hindus' share of India's population to fall by 2.8 per cent by 2050: Study

Phoenix Arizona Hindus in India are projected to grow to almost 13 billion by 2050 in a total population of nearly 17 billion even though their percentage in the nations population is expected to decline by 28 percent from 795 percent in 2010 to 767 percent in 2050 according to a report by the Pew Research Center PRCIndias Hindu population which was 97375 million in 2010 is expected to grow by 32421 million to 129796 million or 1298 billion in 2050 the report released on Thursday saidPRC projected the share of Muslims in Indias total population to grow by 4 percent from 144 percent in 2010 to 184 percent in 2050 as their numbers increase from 1762 million to 31066 million an increase of 13446 million during the 40 yearsThis will also make Indias Muslim population the largest of any country by 2050 outstripping Indonesias 25682 million Muslims and Pakistans 27311 millionThe share of Christians in Indias total population during the period is projected by PRC to decrease by 03 percent from 25 percent in 2010 to 22 percent in 2050 The number of Christians is likely to increase by 561 million from 3113 million in 2010 to 3674 million in 2050The Washingtonbased research organisation which studies population trends and public opinion around the world expected a dramatic rise in the percentage of the Hindu population in the US from 06 percent in 2010 to 12 percent in 2050 As for numbers the US Hindu population is projected to grow from 179 million in 2010 to 478 million in 2050 This will make the US Hindu population the fifth largest in the worldPRCs report The Future of World Religions Population Growth Projections 20102050 said that globally the Hindu population was expected to increase from 1 billion in 2010 to 14 billion by 2050 making it the third largest group after the Christians and MuslimsAccording to the report the unaffiliated a grouping that includes agnostics atheists and those with no formal religious identification which formed the third largest group in 2010 was expected to decline from 1131 billion in 2010 to 123 billion by 2050 allowing Hindus to move up to the third spotIn the AsiaPacific region Hindus constituted the largest religion in 2010 numbering 1024 billion But by 2050 PRC said Hinduism is to have 1369 billion adherents in the region while Islams followers are expected to grow from 98642 million in 2010 to 145772 billion in 2050The PRC based the projections on several factors including fertility and age distribution of the different religious groups in various regionsldquoThe annual growth rate of Hindus is expected to remain roughly on par with world population growth through 20302035 after which it is projected to drop below the worldwide levelrdquo PRC saidldquoBy 2045 Hindus are expected to be growing by about 02 percent annually or roughly half as fast as the global population overall largely as a result of declining fertility rates in IndiardquoGlobally Islam is projected by PRC to be the fastest growing religion increasing from 1599 billion in 2010 to 2761 billion in 2050 almost catching up with Christianitys 2198 billionChristians share of the world population is expected to hold steady at 314 percent during the 40year period while Muslims share is expected to increase from 232 percent in 2010 to 297 percent by 2050 the report said