Washington D.C., Dec 21, 2015 / 12:02 pm
The numbers of people without a religious affiliation are increasing in some countries. But some demographers project that the global population will be more religious, not less, for one simple reason: religious believers tend to have more babies.
The growth in the religiously affiliated population is "largely about having relatively high fertility rates," Conrad Hackett, a demographer at the Pew Research Center, told CNA Dec. 15.
"There is such rapid growth expected in parts of the world that currently really have little to no unaffiliated presence, Africa in particular. India is another place where a lot of population growth is expected," he said.
The religiously unaffiliated population is growing in some countries such as the U.S., where they have been nicknamed the "nones." However, the largest populations of the unaffiliated are in Japan and other countries with aging populations that are not replacing themselves.