By 2050, Hindus' share of India's population to fall by 2.8 percent: Study

Phoenix (Arizona), April 3 , 2015: Hindus in India are projected to grow to almost 1.3 billion by 2050 in a total population of nearly 1.7 billion even though their percentage in the nation's population is expected to decline by 2.8 percent -- from 79.5 percent in 2010 to 76.7 percent in 2050, according to a report by the Pew Research Center (PRC). India's Hindu population, which was 973.75 million in 2010, is expected to grow by 324.21 million to 1,297.96 million -- or 1.298 billion -- in 2050, the report released on Thursday said. PRC projected the share of Muslims in India's total population to grow by 4 percent from 14.4 percent in 2010 to 18.4 percent in 2050 as their numbers increase from 176.2 million to 310.66 million -- an increase of 134.46 million during the 40 years. This will also make India's Muslim population the largest of any country by 2050, outstripping Indonesia's 256.82 million Muslims and Pakistan's 273.11 million The share of Christians in India's total population during the period is projected by PRC to decrease by 0.3 percent, from 2.5 percent in 2010 to 2.2 percent in 2050. The number of Christians is likely to increase by 5.61 million, from 31.13 million in 2010 to 36.74 million in 2050. The Washington-based research organisation, which studies population trends and public opinion around the world, expected a dramatic rise in the percentage of the Hindu population in the US, from 0.6 percent in 2010 to 1.2 percent in 2050. As for numbers, the US Hindu population is projected to grow from 1.79 million in 2010 to 4.78 million in 2050. This will make the US Hindu population the fifth largest in the world. PRC's report, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,” said that globally the Hindu population was expected to increase from 1 billion in 2010 to 1.4 billion by 2050, making it the third largest group after the Christians and Muslims.