Changing Religious Profile of Europe in Maps
In our previous
post, we described the great upheavals in the religious profile that Europe
has gone through in the twentieth century. In this post, we show some of these
changes graphically. The maps show the sharp rise of irreligion in East and
parts of South Europe during the twentieth century, and the recovery of faith
that East Europe has experienced in recent decades. In the latter period, the wave
of irreligion has moved from the east to the west, with West, North and parts
of South Europe undergoing a massive loss of faith. The maps graphically record
this shift. The other great change in the religious profile of Europe is in the
rapid rise of Islam in several countries of West and North Europe, while their
growth has been relatively limited in East Europe. This shift of Muslim
presence towards the west is also clearly seen in the Maps.
The irreligious in
Europe
Number
and share of the Irreligious in Europe, 1900-2010
|
||||||
Numbers (‘000)
|
% Share in population
|
|||||
1900
|
1970
|
2010
|
1900
|
1970
|
2010
|
|
EUROPE
|
1,748
|
139,864
|
109,023
|
0.43
|
21.31
|
14.77
|
East Europe
|
371
|
102,476
|
28,207
|
0.22
|
37.09
|
9.57
|
South Europe
|
174
|
11,870
|
16,526
|
0.25
|
9.30
|
10.65
|
West Europe
|
394
|
15,688
|
44,299
|
0.38
|
9.50
|
23.43
|
North Europe
|
810
|
9,830
|
19,991
|
1.40
|
11.25
|
20.15
|
As we have seen in our earlier post, irreligion was not a
demographically significant phenomenon in Europe at the beginning of the
century. Only the UK, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in North Europe, Netherlands
and Belgium in West Europe and Croatia in South Europe had non-negligible
presence of the irreligious in 1900. By 1970, the irreligious had become a
significant part of the population nearly everywhere in Europe, but their
presence was particularly high in East Europe. Of 140 million Agnostics and
Atheists in Europe then, 102 million were in East Europe alone. Now there has
been a massive shift of the wave of irreligion towards the west. In 2010, of
109 million irreligious persons in Europe, only 28 million are in East Europe
and 64 million are in West and North Europe. The Maps below graphically record
this rise of irreligion in Europe and shifting of the phenomenon towards the
west.
Muslims in Europe
Number
and share of Muslims in Europe, 1900-2010
|
||||||
Numbers (‘000)
|
% Share in population
|
|||||
1900
|
1970
|
2010
|
1900
|
1970
|
2010
|
|
EUROPE
|
9,235
|
17,623
|
41,490
|
2.29
|
2.68
|
5.62
|
East Europe
|
7,369
|
11,546
|
16,775
|
4.35
|
4.18
|
5.69
|
South Europe
|
1,815
|
3,414
|
10,274
|
2.57
|
2.68
|
6.62
|
West Europe
|
51
|
1,988
|
11,575
|
0.05
|
1.20
|
6.12
|
North Europe
|
1
|
675
|
2,866
|
0.00
|
0.77
|
2.89
|
Like the
number and share of the irreligious, presence of Muslims in Europe also has
been shifting towards the west from the east. In 1900, there were 9.2 million
Muslims in Europe; of them, 7.4 million were in East Europe and 1.8 million in
South Europe, leaving only a few thousands in West and North Europe. In 2010,
of 41.5 million Muslims in Europe, 14.5 million are in West and North Europe. Maps
below graphically show the rise of Muslims in West, North and parts of South
Europe and their relatively restrained growth in East Europe.
An existential question
Let us end this note with the question that we raised
in our previous
post. The Maps here graphically illustrate that the
regions of Europe that are experiencing a widespread loss of faith in
Christianity are also the regions where Muslim presence shows a rapidly rising
trend. Does that mean that the people who lose faith in the mainstream religion
of their civilisation also lose the commitment and initiative to defend their
civilisation from alien incursions? Europe needs to answer that question for itself; but
the question is also important for us in India.
No comments:
Post a Comment