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Christianity's center shifts to the Global South
1910 onward; most Christians now in Africa, Asia, Latin America· Event· Bible story & events
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Over the 20th century, most of the world's Christians came to live in Africa, Asia and Latin America rather than Europe and North America.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
When missionaries met at Edinburgh in 1910, about two-thirds of Christians lived in Europe and roughly 80% in Europe and North America. Christianity then grew explosively elsewhere: sub-Saharan Africa went from about 9% Christian in 1910 to about 63% by 2010. By 2020, Pew found, sub-Saharan Africa held the largest share of the world's roughly 2.3 billion Christians, about 31%, ahead of Europe. Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Nigeria now rank among the largest Christian countries.
Why it matters
It reshaped world Christianity: the 'typical' Christian now lives in Lagos or São Paulo, not London, and Southern churches increasingly set the tone of worship, ethics and church politics.
Think of it like
Like a firm whose head office stays downtown while most of its tenants and revenue have moved to fast-growing suburbs.
Sources and history
Censuses and surveys compiled by the Pew Research Center and the World Christian Database; historians such as Andrew Walls, Lamin Sanneh and Philip Jenkins (The Next Christendom, 2002) traced the shift.
Questions and debates
Counts rest on self-identification and differ by source. Whether Southern growth continues as Latin America and parts of Asia secularize is an open question.
Inside this (4)
Connections (6)
▸William Carey and the modern missionary movement planted churches behind Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthHistorical record
The connection
From William Carey's 1792 call, Western missionaries founded churches, schools, hospitals and Bible translations across Africa, Asia and the Pacific. But most growth came later, led by local evangelists preaching in local languages, often after missionaries left. In 1864 Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba freed from a slave ship, became the first African Anglican bishop.
When and where
India from 1793, Africa and China through the 1800s, Korea from 1885; the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference marked the high point of Western missions.
Historical evidence
Mission archives and census data; scholars such as Andrew Walls and Lamin Sanneh showed how translating the Bible into local languages let churches become locally owned.
Questions and debates
How tied missions were to colonialism, and how much credit belongs to missionaries rather than African, Asian and Latin American evangelists, remain debated.
▸Pentecostalism and the Azusa Street Revival drives much of Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthHistorical record
The connection
Pentecostal and charismatic churches, with lively worship, healing prayer and lay leaders, fit cultures where spiritual power is taken for granted, and they spread through local preachers. They power much of Christianity's southern growth: in Brazil, evangelicals, mostly Pentecostal, reached about 27% in the 2022 census, and Pentecostal megachurches fill cities from Lagos to Seoul.
When and where
Missionaries from Azusa Street reached India, China, Africa and Latin America by about 1910; Brazil's Assemblies of God began in 1911; explosive growth since the 1960s.
Historical evidence
Censuses such as Brazil's and Pew Research Center surveys, including its 2006 ten-country study Spirit and Power, document the growth.
Questions and debates
Definitions vary (are charismatic Catholics counted?), so totals differ. The 'prosperity gospel' is debated, as is whether Pentecostal growth will last as societies urbanize.
▸South Korea's church boom is a leading example of Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthHistorical record
The connection
Korea compresses the shift into little more than a century: a mission field in 1885, its churches were Korean-led within decades, and by about 2010 it sent over 20,000 missionaries abroad, second only to the United States by many counts, to Asia, Africa, Latin America and beyond.
When and where
South Korea, especially from the 1980s; the Korea World Missions Association has tracked missionary numbers since the 1990s.
Historical evidence
Missionary-association counts and studies of Korean missions, though counts of full-time missionaries vary by source.
Questions and debates
South Korea is now a rich, aging country, so whether it belongs in the 'Global South' is debatable; its church decline may preview what happens elsewhere.
▸Secularization in the West sped the shift toward Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
As Western churches shrank from the 1960s, the South's share of the world's Christians rose. Most demographers say rapid growth and high birth rates in Africa, Asia and Latin America mattered more than Western decline, but together they moved Christianity's center south. Shrinking Western churches now receive priests and missionaries from the South.
When and where
Europe, North America and Australia since the 1960s; by 2020, sub-Saharan Africa had overtaken Europe as home to the most Christians.
How do we know?
Pew and World Christian Database figures show both trends; immigrant congregations and African and Asian priests in Western parishes are visible signs.
Questions and debates
Demographers debate how much of the shift is Northern decline versus Southern growth, and whether Southern churches will secularize as incomes rise.
▸Christianity in China and the house churches is a fast-growing part of Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
China's churches grew from about 1 million Protestants in 1949 to tens of millions today, without foreign missionaries and largely under pressure, one of the most striking examples of the shift south and east. Sociologist Fenggang Yang has projected that China could have the world's largest Christian population by 2030.
When and where
China, especially from the 1980s, spreading first in rural provinces such as Henan, then among urban professionals in cities like Wenzhou, Chengdu and Beijing.
How do we know?
Government and church statistics, academic surveys and field studies; all figures are estimates, which is why this link is rated mostly agreed rather than certain.
Questions and debates
Pew's 2023 analysis suggests growth may have plateaued around 2% of adults, contradicting high projections; secret believers are hard to count.
▸Christianity comes to the Americas: conquest and missions planted the Latin American churches behind Christianity's center shifts to the Global SouthHistorical record
The connection
Spanish and Portuguese missions made Latin America overwhelmingly Catholic over three centuries. That base, plus a later Pentecostal boom, made the region a major part of Christianity's shift south. In 2013 the Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, the first pope from the Americas.
When and where
Mexico, Peru, Brazil and beyond from the 1500s; Latin America held about a quarter of the world's Catholics in 1910 and about 40% today.
Historical evidence
Church statistics and Pew Research Center data trace the shift; Brazil alone has more Catholics than any other country.
Questions and debates
How deeply native peoples embraced Christianity, versus blending it with older beliefs, is debated, as is how to weigh the colonial violence that came with it.