From the Pew Research Center
Changing Populations
What does the following mean for our churches? In recent research compiled by the Pew Hispanic Center (part of The Pew Research Center, a non-partisan think tank), experts shared that immigration is playing a lead role in U.S. population growth. The Center reports growth from 2005 to 2050 in its latest research projections which includes:
- If current trends continue, U.S. population will rise to 438 million in 2050 - from 296 million in 2005
- 82% of the increase will be due to immigrants from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S. born descendants
- Racial and ethnic mix will change markedly - Asian share rising 9%, Hispanic share rising 29%, and black share holding steady at 13%. The white share will drop to 47%
World Religions
6.3 Billion Population
Muslims - 1.4 + Billion and going up
Hindus - 1.0 + Billion and going up
Buddhists - 400.0 + Million and going up
Jews - 15.0 + Million
Christians - 1.9 Billion and not moving
Click on Link Below for Pew Research Center
http://pewresearch.org/topics/demography/
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) membership
Membership has increased to more than 68.3 million in 2007, up from 66.7 million in 2006 and 66.2 million in 2005. The increase is attributed to a growth of 2 million members across LWF member church bodies in Africa. Asian churches also had an increase of 100,000 while other regions showed slight decreases. Including non-LWF members (such as the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod), the number of world Lutherans stands at 71.8 million. Some 3.5 million Lutherans belong to non-LWF member churches, a decrease of 0.5 percent. Germany, which has many LWF and non-LWF churches, has the highest number of Lutherans in the world (12.6 million), Latin America and the Caribbean had 822,074 LWF members, a slight decrease. The largest Lutheran churches are: the Church of Sweden (6.9 million), the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (4,869,157), the ELCA (4,774,203; a 1.6 percent decrease) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (4,632,480; a 32.4 percent increase).
Source: The Lutheran, May 2008, page 48