Issues
The State of the Nations
The world still stands in need of good news.
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It is a world hungry for God. People seek God and his salvation, yet millions have never heard the good news that God has provided that salvation in Christ.
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It is a world of inequality. Billions live in poverty and suffering while others even profit from their misery.
World Statistics
Population: 6.5 billion. Growth rate: +1.39% per year.
Number of countries: 192
Number of languages: between 7-13 000.
Number of "people groups": 12000.
Hungry For God
The world remains firmly, and increasingly religious. These figures are of course notoriously difficult to define. Most of these statistics have been taken from adherents.com, or the book Operation World. They include all who would effectively include themselves under each category. In this they are more cultural definitions than definitions by faith or practice.
| Adherents | Growth Rate | |
| Christianity | 2200 million (33%) | +1.43% |
| Islam | 1300 million (22%) | +2.17% |
| Hinduism | 900 million (15%) | +1.44% |
| Secular/Nonreligious. | 850 million (14%) | +0.97% |
| Buddhism | 360 million (6%) | +1.21% |
| Chinese traditional religion | 225 million (4%) | -1.28% |
| Indingenous/African traditional | 200 million (3%) | +1.72% |
Christianity
Largest denominational groups:
| Affiliates | Growth Rate | |
| Catholic | 944 million | +0.5% |
| Protestant | 350 million | +2.2% |
| Independant | 303 million | +5.5% |
| Orthodox | 211 million | +0.1% |
| Anglican | 68 million | +2.4% |
Fastest growth has been among trans-denominational groups:
| Affiliates | Growth Rate | |
| Evangelical | 420 million | +4.7% |
| Charismatic | 346 million | +3.9% |
| Pentecostal | 116 million | +4.5% |
By continent: all groups:
| Affiliates | Growth Rate | |
| Africa | 380 million | +2.83% |
| Asia | 316 million | +3.66% |
| Latin America | 477 million | +1.52% |
| North America | 259 million | +0.66% |
| Europe | 519 million | -0.44% |
| Pacific | 23 million | +0.74% |
It is very clear that the largest numbers and fastest growth of the church is in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, on which continents the church is growing faster than population growth. In North America, the church is losing ground as it grows at less than population growth, and in Europe it is even in decline. Christianity is not a western religion!
The missionary task of the church:
World A Peoples: The least evangelised world - nations or peoples less than 50% evangelised:
- Of the world's 12000 people groups, 3557 - representing 1.6 billion people - have less than half of their population who have heard the gospel.
- There are 10 nations with no visible congregation of indigenous believers (8 in Asia, 2 in Africa). 18 nations are less than 1% Christian.
The 10/40 Window is a "window" of land between the 10th and 40th latitudes north - which comprises the most unreached countries, peoples, and religions of the world. While the church is growing rapidly in much of the world, this is the "forgotten land" - the area with the most need physically as well as spiritually, but where the church of Christ has put least resources:
In this area are:
- 2.7 billion people - almost half the world's population
- 900 million Muslims, 600 million Hindus, 400 million Buddhists
- 77% of the unreached people groups in the world
- 97% of people in the least evangelised nations of the world
- All 50 of the world's most unreached mega-cities
- 80% of the poorest of the poor - those who live on less than $500/ year
A World Of Inequality
The world is increasingly unequal. In spite of much of the world growing wealthier, some of the world remains in appalling poverty. Most of these figures are taken from the UN Human Development Report 2004, New Internationalist journal, and the CIA factbook. These and other useful links are available here.
Read more about the how the church can respond to these issues here.
Poverty
- 3 billion people - half the world - live in poverty on less than $2/day.
- 1 billion people live in "absolute poverty" on less than $1/day.
- 30% of children in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished
- In the developing world, one child in 10 dies before the age of 5, mostly from easily preventable causes, due to lack of basic provision.
- Over 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water
- 1 million die from malaria each year, nearly all in sub-Saharan Africa
- TB kills 2 million/year
- 36 million adults live with AIDS
- In 1990, diarrhoea was a cause of 3 million deaths, due to lack of clean water and sanitation
- During the 1990s, 5 million people around the world are estimated to have been killed in conflicts. Between 1989-2001, there have been 115 armed conflicts around the world, 108 of which were civil conflicts.
- Around the world one person every minute is killed with conventional weapons. In that same minute, 15 new arms are manufactured for sale.
- France, Russia, China, Britain and the US together account for 88% of the world's conventional arms exports. The US, Britain and France earn more income from arms exports to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America than they provide in aid.
- Since the end of the Cold War, 90% of those killed in conflict have been non-combatants.
- There are currently around 15 million refugees and other displaced people in the world.
- During the 20th century, temperatures rose by about 0.6°C, and sea levels by 10-20cm. Most scientists now think this is due to the effect of "greenhouse gas" emissions produced by industry, agriculture, and burning fossil fuels. Some of these gases have increased by 30% in the atmosphere since 1800.
- If nothing is done to reduce emissions, current climate models predict a global temperature increase of 1.4 - 5.8°C by 2100. Consequences are likely to be more extreme weather, with especially disastrous results for poorer, less developed countries.
- Rich countries contain only 16% of the world's population and yet generate 50% of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The US alone produces 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Globalisation has boosted inequality. The income gap between the top 20% and the bottom 20% has gone from 30:1 to 74:1
- Today the richest 1% of the world's people control as much wealth as the poorest 57%. The 25 million richest Americans have as much income as almost two billion of the world's poorest people.
- The assets of the richest 3 billionaires are more than those of the 600million poorest people.
Comparing the US, UK, and Burkina Faso
| Indicator | United States | United Kingdom | Burkina Faso |
| GDP per capita | $36006 | $26444 | $264 |
| Population below $1/ day (%) | - | - | 44.85 |
| % below national poverty line | 12 | 17 | 45.3 |
| Life expectancy at birth (years) | 77.1 | 78.2 | 45.7 |
| Infant mortality (/1,000 live births) | 7 | 5 | 107 |
| Under-five mortality (/1,000 live births) | 8 | 7 | 207 |
| Fertility rate (births per woman) | 2.1 | 1.6 | 6.7 |
| Adult literacy rate (% ages 15+) | 97 | 99 | 12.8 |
| Undernourished people (%) | - | - | 17 |
| HIV prevalence (% ages 15-49) | 0.6 | 0.1 | 4.2 |
| Physicians (per 100,000 people) | 279 | 164 | 4 |
| % without access to clean water | - | - | 58 |