Disaffiliation drove Europe’s largest religious shift from 2010 to 2020

Pew estimates that Christian affiliation declined sharply while the religiously unaffiliated population grew faster than any major group in Europe.

Pew reported that Europe’s Christian population fell 9% from 2010 to 2020, while the unaffiliated population grew 37% and the Muslim population grew 16%. Muslims’ share of Europe’s population rose by less than one percentage point to about 6%.

The estimates indicate that disaffiliation was the largest regional change, but they measure modeled affiliation rather than belief, practice, or conversion within Christianity.