WASHINGTON: A research study reveals that Hindus will witness a “dramatic” drop-off in births between 2055 and 2060 owing to a declining fertility in India. The Pew Research Center study said that the number of babies born to Muslim women is expected to overtake those born to Christians worldwide within two decades, making Islam the world's largest religion by 2075.
Christian and Muslim mothers will expectedly give birth to increasing numbers of babies through 2060, but, Muslim births are projected to rise at a much faster rate. “The drop-off in births will be especially dramatic for Hindus, who are expected to see 33 million fewer births between 2055 and 2060 than between 2010 and 2015, due in large part to declining fertility in India, which is home to 94 per cent of the global Hindu population as of 2017,” the study titled 'The Changing Global Religious Landscape', said.
An estimated 68 million babies were born to unaffiliated mothers, between 2010 and 2015, compared to 109 million to Hindu mothers. Between 2015 and 2060, the global Muslim population is expected to grow by 70 per cent. Islam is already the world's fastest-growing religion. When asked, Alan Cooperman, director of religion research at Pew, said, “It's really a geographic story.”
