When people ask where Christianity is largest in the world, they often picture the United States, Brazil, or Mexico—countries where Christians form a clear majority and dominate public life. Nigeria belongs in the same conversation for a different reason. Pew Research Center estimates that Nigeria had about 93 million Christians in 2020, ranking sixth globally in Christian headcount—yet only 43.4% of Nigerians were Christian in that estimate, because Muslims made up a majority. Nigeria is also the only country that Pew places among both the ten largest Muslim populations and the ten largest Christian populations. This article compares Nigeria’s Christian population with other major Christian countries using Pew’s 2010–2020 religious composition estimates, and explains why headcount and percentage tell different stories.
All figures below use Pew Research Center’s June 2025 global religious landscape work unless another source is named. Estimates are for 2020 and cover people of all ages. They are not official Nigerian census religion totals. For a full comparison of Pew, NDHS, and Open Doors figures on Nigeria alone, see our companion piece on how many Christians are in Nigeria.
How Pew Ranks the World’s Largest Christian Populations
Pew Research Center estimates that there were about 2.3 billion Christians worldwide in 2020, up from about 2.1 billion in 2010. Christians remained the world’s largest religious group, but their share of the global population fell from about 31% to about 29% as other groups grew faster and as many people in Europe and North America left Christianity to become religiously unaffiliated.
The ten countries with the largest Christian populations are home to a combined 1.1 billion Christians, or about 47% of all Christians in the world. The United States alone holds about one-tenth of the world’s Christians. Pew estimates that roughly 64% of Americans were Christian in 2020.
Nigeria enters this list at number six. Pew estimates about 92.8 million Christians in Nigeria in 2020 (43.4% of an estimated national population of about 214 million). That is fewer Christians than in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, or Russia, but more than in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Africa, or Italy—the next countries on the typical top-ten list.
| Rank (2020) | Country | Estimated Christians | Christian % of population | Total population (2020) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | ~217.3 million | 64.0% | ~339.4 million |
| 2 | Brazil | ~168.3 million | 80.7% | ~208.7 million |
| 3 | Mexico | ~113.1 million | 89.2% | ~126.8 million |
| 4 | Philippines | ~102.5 million | 91.5% | ~112.1 million |
| 5 | Russia | ~102.4 million | 69.9% | ~146.4 million |
| 6 | Nigeria | ~92.8 million | 43.4% | ~214.0 million |
| 7 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | ~92.4 million | 96.3% | ~96.0 million |
| 8 | Ethiopia | ~73.2 million | 61.6% | ~118.9 million |
| 9 | South Africa | ~51.6 million | 85.3% | ~60.6 million |
| 10 | Italy | ~48.2 million | 80.5% | ~59.9 million |
Source: Pew Research Center religious composition estimates for 2010 and 2020 (Appendix B tables and related publications). Christian counts are derived from national population totals and Christian percentage shares; Pew rounds published population and percentage figures.
Example 1: Nigeria’s share of global Christianity
Scenario: A student asks what fraction of the world’s Christians live in Nigeria.
Key insight: Nigeria hosts roughly one in twenty-five Christians worldwide—substantial, but far below the U.S. share. Nigeria’s global weight comes from absolute size, not from dominating world Christianity numerically.
Example 2: Headcount vs majority status
Scenario: Compare Nigeria (rank 6) with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (rank 7).
Key insight: Ranking by Christian number can place a religiously divided Nigeria beside a Christian-majority Congo. Percentage columns prevent misreading Nigeria as “like Mexico or the Philippines” in national religious character.
- Pew Research Center, “2. Christian population change” (9 June 2025).
- Pew Research Center, Appendix B: Religious composition table (June 2025 global religious landscape report).
Nigeria Compared With the Americas: Size, Majority, and Decline
The three largest Christian populations in the world all sit in the Americas: the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. Each has a much higher Christian share than Nigeria—and each tells a different story about how Christian headcount can rise or fall.
United States
The U.S. remains the country with the most Christians by a wide margin. Pew estimates about 217 million Christians in 2020, with Christians making up 64% of the population. That is down from 78.3% in 2010—a drop of more than 14 percentage points in one decade. The U.S. Christian count also fell between 2010 and 2020 as religious “switching” out of Christianity outpaced natural increase among Christians. Pew highlights the U.S. as a leading example of Christian disaffiliation driving share decline while the country still hosts the world’s largest Christian population.
Brazil and Mexico
Brazil and Mexico combine very large Christian majorities with large national populations. Brazil’s Christian share fell from 89.2% in 2010 to 80.7% in 2020, while Mexico fell from 95.0% to 89.2%. Christian headcounts in both countries remained large—about 168 million in Brazil and 113 million in Mexico in 2020—but the direction of change differs from Nigeria. Nigeria’s Christian share edged down slightly (from about 44.4% to 43.4%) while the Christian count rose sharply (+25%). In Brazil and parts of Latin America, share decline reflects disaffiliation and religious diversification; in Nigeria, share stability with rising headcount reflects rapid overall population growth and demographic competition between two large religious communities.
| Country | Christians 2010 (Pew) | Christians 2020 (Pew) | Change in count | Christian % 2010 | Christian % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | ~243.5 million | ~217.3 million | Decline | 78.3% | 64.0% |
| Brazil | ~172.9 million | ~168.3 million | Slight decline | 89.2% | 80.7% |
| Mexico | ~107.9 million | ~113.1 million | Modest growth | 95.0% | 89.2% |
| Nigeria | ~74.0 million | ~92.8 million | +25% | 44.4% | 43.4% |
Example 1: When a smaller share still means more people
Scenario: Nigeria has fewer Christians than Brazil but a much lower Christian percentage. Why?
Example 2: Growth pattern unlike the U.S.
Scenario: A missions newsletter says “Christianity is shrinking in America but booming in Nigeria.” Is that fair to Pew’s data?
Nigeria Compared With Asia-Pacific and Eurasia
The Philippines ranks fourth globally with about 102.5 million Christians and a 91.5% Christian share in 2020—one of the highest Christian majorities among top-ten countries. Russia ranks fifth with about 102.4 million Christians but only 69.9% Christian, reflecting large non-Christian and religiously unaffiliated populations. Nigeria’s Christian headcount is slightly below both countries, but its Christian share is far lower than either.
China is worth a brief contrast. Media speculation in the 2010s sometimes suggested China might soon have the world’s largest Christian population. Pew’s survey-based estimates place China’s Christian population outside the top ten globally—roughly 25 million Christians in 2020—because Christian identity remains a small share of China’s enormous total population despite growth in some communities. Nigeria’s ~93 million Christians dwarf that survey-based Chinese estimate, even though Nigeria is a much smaller country in total population than China.
Nigeria Among African Christian Giants
Sub-Saharan Africa has become the world’s main engine of Christian population growth. Pew estimates that the region held about 697 million Christians in 2020, up 31% from 2010—the largest regional increase in Christian headcount. Sub-Saharan Africa surpassed Europe as the region with the largest number of Christians; about 31% of all Christians worldwide lived there in 2020, compared with about 22% in Europe.
Within Africa, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo sit near the top of global rankings. D.R. Congo’s Christian population (~92.4 million) is almost identical to Nigeria’s in Pew’s 2020 estimates, but Congo is about 96.3% Christian. Ethiopia follows with about 73.2 million Christians (61.6% of its population). South Africa has a smaller headcount (~51.6 million) but a high Christian share (85.3%).
Nigeria’s distinctive role is not only size but dual ranking: Pew also places Nigeria as the world’s fifth-largest Muslim population (~120 million Muslims in 2020). No other country appears on both top-ten lists. That dual presence shapes how Nigerian Christianity compares internationally—Nigerian Christians live in a society where another global-scale religious community is larger in national percentage terms, unlike Christians in Mexico, the Philippines, or the Congo.
| African country (top Christian counts) | Christians 2020 (Pew) | Christian % | Also top-10 Muslim? (Pew) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | ~92.8 million | 43.4% | Yes (5th largest Muslim population) |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | ~92.4 million | 96.3% | No |
| Ethiopia | ~73.2 million | 61.6% | No (large Muslim minority) |
| South Africa | ~51.6 million | 85.3% | No |
Example 1: Nigeria vs Congo—same Christian count, different country
Scenario: A mission agency compares “reach” in Nigeria and D.R. Congo using only Christian population rank.
Example 2: Nigeria’s growth vs Ethiopia’s growth
Scenario: Which African country added more Christians 2010–2020?
- Pew Research Center, “How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020” — sub-Saharan Africa regional Christian growth.
- Pew Research Center, “5 facts about religion in Nigeria” — dual top-ten Muslim and Christian ranking.
Nigeria Compared With Europe’s Large but Shrinking Christian Populations
European countries still appear on global top-ten Christian lists even as the region’s Christian population declines. Italy ranks tenth in Pew’s 2020 Christian headcount with about 48.2 million Christians (80.5% of its population)—far fewer Christians than Nigeria, but with a Christian supermajority. Russia, ranked fifth globally in Christian count, illustrates a Eurasian pattern: large Christian numbers alongside substantial non-Christian and religiously unaffiliated populations (Pew estimates Russia at 69.9% Christian in 2020, down from 77.1% in 2010).
Europe as a whole lost an estimated 9% of its Christian population between 2010 and 2020, falling to about 505 million Christians. North America’s Christian count fell about 11% to roughly 238 million. Nigeria’s estimated 25% growth in Christian headcount over the same decade moves in the opposite direction from most of the historic heartlands of Christianity in Europe and North America—driven primarily by natural increase (births exceeding deaths) rather than by mass conversion from other religions at the national level.
For Nigerian Christians comparing themselves with Italian or American co-religionists, the contrast is structural: Nigerian Christians are numerous and growing in count within a young, fast-growing nation where another world-scale religious community is larger in percentage terms; Italian Christians are a shrinking majority in an aging society; American Christians remain the world’s largest national Christian bloc but are declining in both count and share as disaffiliation accelerates.
| Region (Pew 2020) | Christians (approx.) | Change 2010–2020 | Christian % of region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa | ~697 million | +31% | ~62% |
| Europe | ~505 million | −9% | ~67% |
| North America | ~238 million | −11% | ~63% |
| Latin America–Caribbean | ~551 million (Pew regional total) | Growth in count; −5 pts share | ~85% |
Example 1: Nigeria vs Italy—more Christians, less Christian “majority culture” nationally
Scenario: A heritage tour brochure says Nigeria and Italy are both “great Christian nations.”
Example 2: What Nigeria’s Christians contribute to Africa’s global share
Scenario: Estimate Nigeria’s share of sub-Saharan Africa’s Christians.
Key insight: Nigeria is a major African Christian center but not a majority of African Christianity by headcount—African Christianity is geographically distributed across dozens of countries.
Global Christianity’s Center of Gravity—and Where Nigeria Fits
Pew’s global analysis describes a slow shift in Christianity’s geographic center. Christians are the most geographically dispersed major religious group: about 31% of the world’s Christians lived in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020, compared with about 24% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 22% in Europe, and 10% in North America. A century ago, two-thirds of Christians lived in Europe; sub-Saharan Africa accounted for about 1% of the global Christian population in the early 1900s.
Nigeria’s ~93 million Christians represent roughly 4% of the world’s ~2.3 billion Christians—about half the U.S. share (~9–10%). The ten largest Christian countries together hold about 47% of global Christians; the other 191 countries and territories in Pew’s study account for the rest. Nigeria’s place in that top ten signals global importance without implying that Nigerian Christianity defines worldwide trends on its own.
Pew also notes that global Christian share fell because Christian population growth (6% from 2010 to 2020) lagged behind growth among non-Christians (15%) and because religious switching out of Christianity—especially in the United States and Western Europe—reduced Christian shares in many countries. Nigeria’s pattern (rising Christian count, nearly stable Christian share, faster Muslim growth) differs from the switching-driven declines in the West. Comparing Nigeria with “major Christian countries” therefore requires noticing not only who has the most Christians today, but which countries are gaining or losing Christians, and why.
Ministry and Research Implications of the Comparison
Understanding Nigeria against other major Christian countries shapes practical decisions—not because rankings win arguments, but because scale and context change strategy.
Resource allocation: Nigeria’s Christian population exceeds that of most nations, including every European country in Pew’s top ten. Ministries that prioritize “countries with the most Christians” should list Nigeria consistently alongside Brazil and Mexico—not only because of need or persecution narratives, but because of verified demographic scale.
Partnership framing: Western churches often partner with Nigerian churches as if Nigeria were a Christian-majority mirror of their own society. Pew’s data suggest caution: Nigerian Christians are a large minority in a religiously competitive nation, more comparable in share to religiously mixed societies than to Mexico or the Philippines, while comparable in headcount to Russia or the Congo.
Data discipline: Cross-country articles should use one source and one year for all countries in a table. Mixing Pew 2020 Nigeria figures with Open Doors/WCD headcounts for Nigeria alone breaks comparability. This article keeps Pew 2020 for every country in the ranking table.
Future articles in this series: Nigeria’s change over time (2010–2020 growth), its comparison with the rest of Africa, and the difficulty of measuring religion nationally build on this comparison without repeating the full top-ten table. Each piece should own one analytical question.
Example 1: Building a sourced infographic
Scenario: A Christian media site wants a bar chart of the top six Christian countries.
Example 2: Avoiding the “Christian minority” confusion
Scenario: A speaker says “Nigeria is a minority Christian country with a tiny church.”
Journalists and ministry leaders often compress comparisons into a single line—“Nigeria has more Christians than most countries.” That is true but incomplete. Three comparison rules keep Nigeria’s position clear.
First, separate headcount from majority status. Nigeria has more Christians than Italy, South Africa, Ethiopia, and dozens of Christian-majority countries—but Nigerians are not, in Pew’s estimate, majority Christian. Calling Nigeria a “Christian country” in the same sense as Mexico or the Philippines misrepresents the data.
Second, compare growth trajectories, not only 2020 snapshots. Nigeria’s Christian population grew about 25% from 2010 to 2020 while the U.S. Christian count fell and Brazil’s Christian share dropped sharply. Nigeria’s story is rapid demographic expansion in a competitive religious environment, not the slow secularization patterns seen in parts of the Americas and Europe.
Third, place Nigeria inside African Christianity’s global rise. Sub-Saharan Africa now holds nearly one-third of the world’s Christians. Nigeria contributes a large slice of that African Christian population—about 4% of all Christians worldwide—but Congo, Ethiopia, and other countries also add millions. Nigeria is central to African Christianity without being the whole story.
Two Complete Comparison Walkthroughs
Complete Example A: Ranking countries for a global prayer guide
Scenario: An editor lists “the ten countries with the most Christians” for a prayer calendar.
Complete Example B: Explaining Nigeria to an American audience
Scenario: A U.S. church asks, “Is Nigeria’s Christian population bigger than ours?”
Common Questions
Is Nigeria the largest Christian country in Africa?
By Christian headcount, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are nearly tied for the largest Christian populations in Africa under Pew’s 2020 estimates (~92.8 million vs ~92.4 million). By Christian share of the national population, many African countries—including Congo, South Africa, and several smaller states—rank far above Nigeria.
Why does Nigeria rank below Russia if their Christian counts are similar?
They are close but not identical. Pew ranks Russia fifth (~102.4 million Christians) and Nigeria sixth (~92.8 million)—a gap of about 10 million people. Nigeria sits in a cluster with Russia, the Philippines, and the Congo where Christian headcounts are large but national religious character differs sharply because of Christian percentage and Muslim or other populations.
Does a large Christian population mean Nigeria is safe or easy for Christian ministry?
No. Population data and persecution or security data measure different things. Pew notes very high social hostilities involving religion in Nigeria. Open Doors ranks Nigeria among the most difficult countries for Christians on the World Watch List. Large Christian headcount and high pressure can coexist—as they do in Nigeria.
How do Open Doors figures compare for Christian population?
Open Doors publishes a higher Christian headcount for Nigeria (~107 million on a listed population of ~235 million) than Pew’s 2020 estimate (~93 million). That reflects different sources and years (World Christian Database vs DHS-based Pew modeling). For cross-country comparison, use one source consistently—this article uses Pew 2020 for all countries in the table.
Methodology Notes
Country rankings and percentages come from Pew Research Center’s religious composition estimates for 2010 and 2020, published in June 2025 as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project. Christian headcounts in the main table are computed from Pew’s published national population totals and Christian percentage shares in Appendix B of the global religious landscape report. Growth rates compare 2010 and 2020 using the same methodology.
Nigeria-specific estimates rest on Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey data processed by Pew; other countries use censuses, surveys, and registers as described in Pew’s methodology. Figures are rounded; small ranking shifts could appear if unrounded data were used.
This article does not replace Pew’s interactive country table or downloadable dataset. It interprets Nigeria’s position relative to other large Christian populations for churchlist.ng/ readers who need sourced comparisons without mixing incompatible sources.
Conclusion
Nigeria belongs in any serious conversation about the world’s largest Christian populations. Pew Research Center ranks it sixth globally with about 93 million Christians in 2020—ahead of most nations on earth in absolute terms, and comparable to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Christian headcount alone. Yet Nigeria is unlike the United States, Brazil, Mexico, or the Philippines in the most important comparative column: only about 43.4% of Nigerians were Christian in Pew’s estimate, while Muslims formed a majority.
That combination—massive Christian population, non-majority Christian share, rapid Christian growth alongside even faster Muslim growth, and a unique dual place among top ten Muslim and Christian countries—defines Nigeria’s comparison with other major Christian countries. Headcount rankings show Nigeria’s scale; percentage columns show its religious complexity. Both are needed for honest global Christianity analysis.
Complete Reference List
- Pew Research Center. “2. Christian population change.” 9 June 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/christian-population-change/
- Pew Research Center. “How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020.” 9 June 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/how-the-global-religious-landscape-changed-from-2010-to-2020/
- Pew Research Center. Appendix B: Religious composition table (June 2025). https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/PR_2025.06.09_global-religious-change_appendix-b.pdf
- Pew Research Center. “Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2020.” https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/feature/religious-composition-by-country-2010-2020/
- Pew Research Center. “5 facts about religion in Nigeria.” 11 November 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/11/11/5-facts-about-religion-in-nigeria/
- Pew Research Center. “Muslims and Christians grew rapidly in Nigeria from 2010 to 2020” (chart). https://www.pewresearch.org/chart/muslims-and-christians-grew-rapidly-in-nigeria-from-2010-to-2020/