Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
7 Figures: Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population
7 Figures: Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population
Jan 20, 2026 11:54 AM

The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an a new survey by the Pew Research Center pares the religious landscape of 2015 to 2007. Here are seven figures you should know from the report.

1. Between 2007 and 2014, the share of the U.S. population that identifies as Christian fell from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent, driven primarily by declines among mainline Protestant and Catholics.

2. The rise in intermarriage appears to be linked with the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population. Nearly one-in-five people surveyed who got married since 2010 are either religiously unaffiliated respondents who married a Christian spouse or Christians who married an unaffiliated spouse. By contrast, just 5 percent of people who got married before 1960 fit this profile.

3. Catholics appear to be declining both as a percentage of the population and in absolute numbers. The new survey indicates there are about 51 million Catholic adults in the U.S. today, roughly 3 million fewer than in 2007. But taking margins of error into account, the decline in the number of Catholic adults could be as modest as 1 million.

4. The new survey indicates that evangelical–including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbyterian Church in America, and many nondenominational congregations—now have a total of about 62 million adult adherents. That is an increase of roughly 2 million since 2007, though once the margins of error are taken into account, it is possible that the number of evangelicals may have risen by as many as 5 million or remained essentially unchanged. And evangelical Protestants, while declining slightly as a percentage of the U.S. public, probably have grown in absolute numbers as the overall U.S. population has continued to expand.

5. Of the major subgroups within American Christianity, mainline Protestantism—a tradition that includes the United Methodist Church, the American Baptist Churches USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Episcopal Church, among others—appears to have experienced the greatest drop in absolute numbers. In 2007, there were an estimated 41 million mainline Protestant adults in the United States. As of 2014, there are roughly 36 million, a decline of 5 million – although, taking into account the bined margins of error, the number of mainline Protestants may have fallen by as few as 3 million or as many as 7.3 million between 2007 and 2014.

6. The size of the historically black Protestant tradition—which includes the National Baptist Convention, the Church of God in Christ, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Progressive Baptist Convention and others—has remained relatively stable in recent years, at nearly 16 million adults.

7. Christianity – and especially Catholicism – has been losing more adherents through religious switching than it has been gaining. More than 85 percent of American adults were raised Christian, but nearly a quarter of those who were raised Christian no longer identify with Christianity. Former Christians represent 19.2 percent of U.S. adults overall.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Understanding the President’s Cabinet: EPA Administrator
Note: This is the post #24 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere. Cabinet position:EPA Administrator Department:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Current Administrator:Scott Pruitt Department Mission:The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment. EPA’s purpose is to ensure that: all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;national efforts to reduce environmental...
Macron’s African statement ignores human ingenuity
A French media outlet has captured an otherwise ment from French President Emmanuel Macron that Africa is overpopulated. When asked about a possible “Marshall Plan for Africa,” Macron listed among the continent’s current problems the need for “demographic transition,” lamenting the fact that some African “countries still haveseven to eight children per woman.” His concerns seem particularly worth examining today on World Population Day. During a July 8 press conference about the G20 summit, Macron began by naming truly concerning...
Lenin’s Trip to Infamy
One hundred years ago, the man Winston Churchill dubbed a “plague bacillus” journeyed back from his exile in Europe to eventually seize the reins of power in his native Russia. Vladimir Lenin’s itinerary could not have been more fraught with peril and subterfuge, which makes it an ideal framing story for a recap of the rise of 20th century totalitarianism. The result was millions suffering and millions more murdered, tortured or starved to death by Lenin’s – and, later, Stalin’s...
When a labor union gets upset about job-stealing goats
While the rest of nation continues to fret about various threats to labor demand — whether from technology, trade, or immigration — an influential labor union is worrying about goats. Yes, goats. In a surreal set of circumstances that seems closer to Bastiatian satire than actual reality, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has filed a grievance against Western Michigan University for hiring a herd of goats to clear undergrowth on campus land. From the Battle...
Can Christ and Burke solve the ‘European intifada’?
As Donald Trump stood alongside Emmanuel Macron at a parade on Friday, memorated more thanBastille Day. The presidents of the U.S. and France burst into applause as a marching band paid tribute to the 86victims of last July 14th’sNice terrorist attack. The ever-growing string of terrorist “incidents” gained momentum with the murders at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012. But the situation, which one Israeli official dubbed the “European intifada,” broke into public consciousness following the 2015Charlie Hebdoattack. A...
Did Spider-Man read Thomas Aquinas?
For many of us, what is heroic about Spider-Man is not his ability to do “whatever a spider can,” but rather his effortless inclination to do what is good. But what makes Spider-Man good? In his book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper argues against the notion that “Hard work is what is good.” He says that this phrase, although seemingly harmless, has dangerous implications. It implies that the amount of effort something takes directly corresponds to how good...
Saving Charlie Gard
“The case of 11-month-old Charlie Gard continues to garner international attention and pleas for his life from Donald Trump and Pope Francis,” says Anne Rathbone Bradley in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Cases like Charlie’s, while exceptional and rare, are important because they establish precedents regarding the relationship between the individual and the state.” When we think about it in this way, Great Ormond Street Hospital – which has been the target of much criticism – is actually almost an incidental...
Explainer: What you should know about the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA)
, their budget reconciliation proposal to repeal-and-replace the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Here is a summary of the changes being proposed: • Eliminates the individual mandate tax penalty (by reducing the amount owed to $0). • Eliminates the employer mandate tax penalty (by reducing the amount owed to $0). • Delays implementation of the so-called Cadillac tax until taxable periods beginning January 1, 2026. • Allows all individuals purchasing health insurance in the individual market the option to purchase...
What Genesis says about the nature of work
Is every aspect of Christian life valuable to God? Many, if not all Christians would confidently respond “Yes, of course! Everything we do should be done for the glory of God.” While this response is natural pletely true, its message seems to lose meaning when Christians enter the workplace. Scott Rae, professor of the philosophy of religion and ethics at Biola University, addressed this topic in his recent Acton University lecture, “Theology of Work.” He emphasized that Christians often make...
How ordinary economic thinking helps constrain political chaos
In an age where chaos and cronyism seem to be the defining characteristics of our politics, and where the political system is increasingly decried as being “rigged” by populists from both the left and right, the time seems ripe for a renewed focus on political constraints. When such concerns arise, we are quick to point back to the U.S. Constitution, and rightly so. Yet economist Peter Boettke sees another guide that can also offer some value. For Boetkke, our politics...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved