"The number of Christians around the world has nearly quadrupled in the last 100 years, from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion in 2010. But the world’s overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world’s population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%). This apparent stability, however, masks a momentous shift. Although Europe and the Americas still are home to a majority of the world’s Christians (63%), that share is much lower than it was in 1910 (93%). And the proportion of Europeans and Americans who are Christian has dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in 2010 in Europe as a whole, and from 96% to 86% in the Americas as a whole." - Eivind from Bookmarklet

10 countries with the largest number of Christians: USA, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Philippines, Nigeria, China, DR Congo, Germany, Ethiopia. - Eivind

Germany?! - سيما كيا Sima kia

Lutheranism. - Akiva

I find the ~60M number for Germany very suspect, but if their system is anything like ours, most people would actively have to de-register from the church to stop being counted as Christians. - Eivind

@ سيما كيا Sima kia I'm living in Germany and yes there are quite a lot of Christians here, especially in Bavaria (the pope btw. is from the region, close to where I grew up). there are a bit more than ~81 Mio people living in Germany, so 58M people could be true on the paper. you get hammered by Christianity early in schools here. But most of MY friends (including me) are either agnostics, or atheists, or Christians only on the paper who are not very devoted to Christianity. - Dickbuttkick

Dickbuttkick, couple of my close relatives are German and I have traveled in Germany a few times. I have not noticed religion much in my conversations. It may be true that they are considered religious in the sense that they go to church for certain occasions and traditions, but for whatever reason Germans have not struck me as being religious. On the other hand I can easily believe that number of religious people in the US has increased. They advertise Christianity here more than any place I have known. But your points are well taken and the fact that the flamboyant and the ostentatious Pope is from Germany may also have something to do with it. - سيما كيا Sima kia

Many people here do not appear as decidedly Christian/religious, and religion is not much of a conversational topic, but try and criticize the Christian religion (the belief, not its institutions), and before long you'll realize that this is socially taboo. I think most people regard the Christian faith as an ethical force, a pillar of the Western society, the source of "our values" or something. In addition, religious conventions are still strong, at least in Bavaria. Example: My sister doesn't strike me as particularly religious, but it went without saying that her son celebrated his First Communion at ten. - Maitani

I would argue that most "Christians" are thus in name only. Even in the heavily religious United States only about 12% of Christians attend church on a weekly basis, even though more than 30% report doing so. - Friar Will

Do you think church attendance is a good measure, though, Will? I agree that people not attending church or other houses of worship are probably more heterodox in their beliefs, so maybe they're not counted as Christian by everyone? What I see (or how I interpret what I see) in Norway, is that more of the religiously inclined people are sort of customizing their religions to suit themselves. Many people seem to keep many elements from Christianity while adding new age stuff about energies and the magnetism of positive thinking and personal guardian angels and whatnot. Maybe it's a sign of people becoming more individualistic? I don't know. In any case, those who are counted as Christians because they're members of the state church are a very, very diverse group including anything from strict 'orthodox' protestants to (lazy) hardcore atheists. I myself was born a member because my parents were members. - Eivind

Church going is a problematic measure owing to the cultural factors already mentioned; people going as they feel they ought to, or were brought up to etc. The state church aspect is not so strong here, in so far as there is no assumption you're CoE from birth :) I was baptised, but not confirmed. None of my brothers were baptised. - Pete