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Almost all protestant faiths are shrinking in the United States. Catholicism, far and away the largest Christian denomination, is not only growing in the United States, but is growing worldwide. Why is that? Inquiring minds want to know.

Percentage wise it is essential static, while why is it also in decline in so many places, and why is Islam growing? Why does Rev. speak of the world following the Beast? The Roman reasoning that growth or popularity = validity is no more sound than past reasoning expressed here, such as that being the stewards of Scripture means they are infallible, and that to agree with an authority on some things means one must agree with all they say.

But unlike the bare assertion that Catholics make of up to 50% of the military, The facts are that Protestantism is in decline in the US, and much of it needs to, in order to be replaced with evangelicals which i will get to further on. Meanwhile, the percentage (do not try your raw numbers trick) RC growth in the US is hardly any greater than the increase in population in the US, and would be a loss if it were not from Catholic immigration from Latin America (and in which Catholicism has been loosing members for decades). And as about 80 to 85 percent of the immigration from Mexico and Central America in recent years is reported to have been illegal, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigrant_population_of_the_United_States#cite_note-12)

According to the Census Bureau, the Latino population in the United States grew from 22.4 million in 1990 to 41.3 million in 2004, adding a staggering 18.9 million people in 10 years. Broader estimates, which include Puerto Rican islanders (4 million) and undocumented immigrants (5 million), put the U.S. Latino population at over 50 million. - http://www.nhclc.org/news/latino-religion-us-demographic-shifts-and-trend

1,000 Mexicans [which country has the second argest number of Catholics] left the Catholic Church every day between 2000 and 2010, a decline that has continued uninterrupted over the past 60 years, from 98.21 of the population to 83.9 percent today. Latin American Herald Tribune, March 10, 2011, based upon census data and study by sociologist and historian Roberto Blancarte of Colegio de Mexico and the National Autonomous University of Mexico

And the proportion of Catholic Brazilians [which has the largest number of Catholics] fell from 93.% of Brazilians 40 years ago, and 74% of the population in 2000 to to 65% in 2010. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/29/ratio-of-evangelicals-in-brazil-jumps-44-in-10-years/

Almost 20% of all Latino American Catholics have left the Roman Catholicism, with 23 percent of second-generation Latino Americans doing so. http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf

18% of all Latinos say they have either converted from one religion to another or to no religion at all. http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/75.4.pdf

The first generation of Latino immigrants is 74 percent Catholic, and 15 percent Protestant. The second generation is 72 percent Catholic, and 20 percent Protestant. The third generation is 62 percent Catholic, and 29 percent Protestant. - http://www.nhclc.org/news/latino-religion-us-demographic-shifts-and-trend

Also of note, regarding immigration across all nationalities,

immigrants are roughly four times as likely as native-born adults to be Muslim (2% vs. less than 0.5%), twice as likely to be Buddhist (2% vs. 1%), more than six times as likely to be Hindu (3% vs. less than 0.5%) and roughly four times as likely to be affiliated with Orthodox churches (2% vs. less than 0.5%). - http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf

Secondly, not all protestant faiths are shrinking in the United States, and the only ones that matter are evangelicals, as the rest can hardly be called "Protestant," as they typically deny the most fundamental distinctive of the Reformation, that of holding Scripture supreme as the actually being the accurate and wholly inspired word of God. Those who do are very conservative overall.

As with the Lord's disciples, it is the quality that matters, not quantity, and eliminating those whom conservative RCs excomm as CINOS, you would likely have about 2/3s less Catholics in the US.

Protestants with a strong religious identity continue to increase as Catholics with a strong religious identity continue to decline, according to a March study by the Pew Research Center. The proportion of Catholics reporting strong religious affiliation declined by almost twenty percentage points over the last few decades, from 46 percent of Catholics in 1974 to 27 percent in 2012. Protestants reporting strong religious affiliation increased more than ten percentage points during the same period, from 43 percent to 54 percent. - http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/protestant-perseverance-and-catholic-decline

May 2, 2012|6:08 am A decennial census of U.S. religions in America was released Tuesday by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The results show a dramatic increase in the number of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, and Muslims, a modest increase in the number of evangelical Protestants, and a drop in the number of Catholics and mainline Protestants.

Notably, when combined, nondenominational and independent churches are now the largest faith group, with over 12 million adherents, according to the report.

Evangelical Protestants and Latter-day Saints saw their greatest growth in the nine most populated metropolitan areas. These areas each have over 5 million people. Evangelical Christians increased their numbers by 12.3 percent and Latter-day Saints increased their numbers by 66.9 percent in these areas. Muslims, by contrast, grew at a faster rate outside of the major metropolitan areas.

ASARB's U.S. Religion Census is the most thorough study of its kind. County-level data is collected for 236 different religious groups.

Richard Yeakley Religion News Service: While mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. continue to experience decades-long decline, the memberships of [a few] Pentecostal traditions are on the rise, according to new figures compiled by the National Council of Churches.

The Roman Catholic Church (No. 1) and the Southern Baptist Convention (No. 2) are still significantly larger than all other North American denominations, but Catholics posted minimal growth of less than 1 percent, and Southern Baptist membership fell for a third straight year, according to the 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches...

The membership declines in mainline churches led to a 1 percent decrease in total U.S. church membership, to 145.8 million ..

Despite the national decline, some smaller denominations' memberships are increasing. "Churches which have been increasing in membership in recent years continue to grow and likewise, those churches which have been declining in recent years continue to decline," writes the Rev. Eileen Lindner, the editor of the yearbook.

Pentecostal churches make up four of the 25 largest churches, and both the Assemblies of God and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) increased in membership. Only six of the 25 largest memberships increased over the previous year. - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/report-us-churches-contin_n_823701.html

Unlike Protestants, who have seen their ranks dwindle as a share of the population [Through the 1970s and 1980s, between 60% and 65% to 51% now] the GSS findings suggest that the proportion of the adult population that identifies itself as Catholic has held fairly steady, at around 25%, in recent decades. But the Landscape Survey makes clear that this apparent stability obscures a great deal of change in the makeup of Catholicism in the U.S.

While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration. The Landscape Survey finds that among the foreign-born adult population, Catholics outnumber Protestants by nearly a two-to-one margin (46% Catholic vs. 24% Protestant); among native-born Americans, on the other hand, the statistics show that Protestants outnumber Catholics by an even larger margin (55% Protestant vs. 21% Catholic).

Other surveys - such as the General Social Surveys, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago since 1972 - find that the Catholic share of the U.S. adult population has held fairly steady in recent decades at around 25%. What this apparent stability obscures, however, is the large number of people who have left the Catholic Church. Approximately one-third of the survey respondents who say they were raised Catholic no longer describe themselves as Catholic. This means that roughly 10% of all Americans are former Catholics. These losses, however, have been partly offset by the number of people who have changed their affiliation to Catholicism (2.6% of the adult population) but more importantly by the disproportionately high number of Catholics among immigrants to the U.S. - http://religions.pewforum.org/reports; http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf

Worldwide, more actual research also reports,

Based on the "Pew Report" info above, overall there has been no growth (weighted for population growth) of Christianity the last one hundred years. Further we can extrapolate that Catholics and non catholic Christians have both stayed about the same size (with an actual 3.1% decrease) over the 100 year period...3.1% of 6 billion is a 186 million decrease. - http://www.quora.com/Worldwide-what-is-the-growth-rate-of-Catholicism-and-Protestantism-by-conversion-respectively

Although Christians make up a smaller portion of the 2010 population in the Americas (86%) than they did in 1910 (96%), the Americas account for a higher share of the world’s Christians (37%, up from 27% in 1910)

Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that over the last century the number of Catholics in the Church has more than tripled, from 291 million in 1910 to about 1.1. billion today, but the Church’s percentage of the world’s Christians (48% and 50%) and of the world’s population (17% and 16%) has stayed almost the same. - http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/catholics-up-absolutely-and-holding-steady-proportionately/

And the Vatican says,

By the end of 2012, the worldwide Catholic population had reached 1.228 billion, an increase of 14 million or 1.14 per cent, slightly outpacing the global population growth rate, which, as of 2013, was estimated at 1.09 per cent.. Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at around 17.5 per cent.

And finally the rest is from a most massive report, (http://wwwgordonconwell.com/netcommunity/CSGCResources/ChristianityinitsGlobalContext.pdf). Note Independents refer to Pentecostal churches, and Marginal Christians refers to cilts.

Renewalists [1. Pentecostals; 2. Charismatics; 3. Independent Charismatics, p. 89.90] numbered 62.7 million in 1970 and are expected to grow to 709.8 million by 2020. In 1970, Renewalists were 5.1% of all Christians, but by 2010 they had grown to 25.8% (averaging 4.1% growth per year between 1970 and 2010).

Looking forward to 2020, it is expected that Renewalist movements will grow almost twice as fast as global Christianity as a whole, to represent 27.8% of all Christians.

Over the period 1970–2010 Renewalist movements grew at nearly four times the growth rates of both Christianity and the world’s population. Looking forward to 2020, they are expected to grow almost twice as fast as both. In 2010, Renewalists made up over one quarter of all Christians worldwide; this percentage will continue to increase in the future. In terms of the types of Renewalist movements, Charismatics were the fastest growing over the 40-year period (1970–2010), but Pentecostals will grow faster than the other two types over the 10-year period (2010–20). Renewalists are growing the fastest in Asia and Latin America over the 40-year period, and in Asia and Africa over the 10-year period. In 2020, Latin America will have the highest percentage of Renewalists, followed by Northern America and Africa.

Roman Catholics form the largest bloc of Christians in Africa. Between 1970 and 2010 their numbers increased from 44.9 million (12.2% of the population) to 197.0 million (17.3%). In 2010 the Catholic share of church members (34.2%) was lower than in 1970 (38.3%). However, projections for 2020 show an increase to 35.2%. Independents have seen their share of the total population and church members decrease recently, although they are still higher in 2010 than in 1970.

Eastern Africa..Roman Catholics will continue to be the largest major tradition in the region, increasing from 17.1% of the total regional population in 1970 to 22.3% in 2010 and 23.2% in 2020. Protestants more than doubled their share of the total population between 1970 and 2000 (from 7.0% to 17.5%), replacing Orthodox (whose share rose only slightly, from 10.9% to 11.1%) as the region’s second-largest major tradition. The gap is projected to widen further by 2020 (18.6% Protestant versus 10.1% Orthodox).

Middle Africa..Roman Catholics are by far the largest group of Christians in the region, representing 47.0% of the total population in 2010 and 47.5% in 2020, up from 38.3% in 1970. No tradition could claim such a large share of any other African region’s total population in the period 1970–2020, although Independents in Southern Africa are approaching it (growing from 19.1% of the total population there in 1970 to 37.3% in 2010 and 37.6% by 2020)...Protestants grew from 7.0% of the total population of Angola in 1970 to 26.7% in 2010 (28.5% in 2020)

Western Africa..All Christian traditions are predicted to grow faster than the general population at the regional level for the period 1970–2020. Roman Catholics were the largest Christian tradition in the region in 1970, representing 7.1% of the total population. By 2000, Independents (12.1%, up from 4.5% in 1970) had surpassed Roman Catholics (11.0%). In 2010, Protestants (12.9%, up from 5.2% in 1970) had overtaken both Independents...Protestants (13.5%) and Catholics (12.4%) are thus forecast to increase their share of the total population, while Independents’ share will continue to shrink (to 11.6% in 2020).

Asia..Though growing, Roman Catholics will be outpaced by Independents by 2020 (3.5% versus 3.7%)...Independent Christians average the fastest growth over the period 1970–2020 (4.8% per annum) as well as 2010–20 (2.6% p.a.)

Eastern Asia..Among Christian traditions, Independents experienced the most rapid growth regionally, averaging 7.7% per year between 1970 and 2010. Over that period they grew from 0.3% of the region’s population to 5.6% and now outnumber Christians from all other traditions combined. Growth is expected to continue through 2020, averaging 3.0% annually, to almost 119 million (7.3% of the region’s population). Protestants and Catholics also experienced significant growth 1970–2010, from 0.4% to 2.3% and from 0.2% to 1.4% of the region’s population, respectively.

South-central Asia..In 1910 Roman Catholics accounted for over 50% of all church members in South-central Asia, but the growth of Protestantism in the first half of the twentieth century has contributed to the diversification of the region’s Christian population. Between 1970 and 2010, Independents also made significant gains, increas - ing from 14% of church members to almost 27%. This rapid growth of Independent Christians is wide - spread, affecting every country of South-central Asia except Kyrgyzstan. In India, Independent growth has resulted largely from increases in hidden Hindu believers in Christ.

South-eastern Asia..The percentage of the Indonesian popula - tion that is Christian has increased from 9.5% in 1970 to 12.1% in 2010, rising to 12.5% by 2020. The numbers of adherents of each major Christian tradition have increased over the period 1970–2010, as have the proportions of the regional population for most of them. In contrast to the situation in many other regions, however, the relative proportions among the six major Christian traditions have remained remark - ably stable since 1970.

Western Asia...Orthodox Christianity is still the largest major tradition in the region, with almost nine million adherents; two thirds of Orthodox Christians in Western Asia reside in Armenia or Georgia. Roman Catholics retain a strong presence in Lebanon despite emigration, while in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates their numbers have increased substantially since 1970 due to the influx of Roman Catholic migrant workers. Largely as a result of this phenomenon, the percentage of the region’s church members who are Roman Catholic increased from 27% in 1970 to 38% in 2010.

Europe..Although Roman Catholicism remains the largest major Christian tradition in Europe, its share of the popu - lation has been declining since 1970, and this decline is expected to continue into the future...Anglicans’ and Protestants’ population shares are also on the decline. Protestants experienced the greatest overall percentage decline over both the 50- and 10-year periods, dropping from 12.5% in 1970, to 9.2% in 2010, to a likely 8.9% by 2020...Independent churches are growing due to migration from the global South; in particular, congregations of African Pentecostals and Charismatics have appeared in Southern Europe.

Eastern Europe...Orthodoxy is the largest major tradition in Eastern Europe,..while Orthodox were only 33.6% of Eastern Europe’s population in 1970, by 2010 this had nearly doubled to 60.7%..Despite the resurgence of the Orthodox in Eastern Europe, Marginal Christians have the fastest growth rate of any major Christian tradition between 1970 and 2020, averaging 4.3% annually. Significant gains have been made via missionary efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, especially in Russia and Ukraine.

Northern Europe. Christianity in Northern Europe has been on a steady trajectory of decline, dropping from 98.1% of the population in 1910 to 86.7% in 1970...Only two countries in Northern Europe are poised to become more Christian (by percentage) in 2020 than they were in 1970: Lithuania (70.5% in 1970; 90.6% in 2020) and Latvia (51.0% in 1970; 71.7% in 2020). Christianity is growing in these countries largely due to the revival of Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy, respectively, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Independent churches are experiencing significant growth regionally, with average annual rates of 2.5% between 1970 and 2020 and 1.6% between 2010 and 2020. One of th e most significant trends in North - ern Europe has been, and will continue to be, immigration. Many of these immigrants are Christians, often bringing a more dynamic form of the faith into a region with low church attendance. Some of the largest churches in the region are African churches.

Southern Europe ..On a regional basis Roman Catholicism is the dominant form of Christianity, although church affiliation is in decline... Roman Catholics repre - sented 78.1% of the regional population in 1970 but are likely to drop to 73.8% by 2020. Independent churches in Southern Europe are on the rise, largely due to immigration from Africa, and represent the fastest growth of any Christian tradition over the 50-year period (averaging 4.6% per annum). The growth of African Pentecostal churches in the region has been tremendous, with at least 1,000 congre - gations in Italy alone. Majority-Roman Catholic countries historically have struggled with the integration of these different kinds of Christians.

Western Europe..Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian tradition in the re - gion. In 1970, 58.2% of the region’s population was Catholic. By 2010, however, that figure had dipped below half, to 48.8%, for the first time in the region’s Christian history. This trajectory is expected to continue through 2020, with Roman Catholics declining to 47.3% of Western Europe’s population,..Independents (0.8% in 1970 and 1.5% in 2010) and Orthodox (0.7% in 1970 and 1.3% in 2010) have each made small gains in the region.

Latin America...Christians are declining as a percentage of Latin America’s population, from 94.2% in 1970 to 92.1% by 2020, but Latin American Christians are increasing as a percentage of the global Christian population, from 22.0% in 1970 to 23.5% by 2020. Latin America has been predominantly Roman Catholic throughout the 50-year period, but their share is declining as well. Roman Catholics represented 87.7% of the total population in 1970, but only 79.7% by 2020. The largest populations of Catholics live in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s two largest countries. To - gether these nations make up slightly more than half of the total population. Mexico was 90.7% Catholic in 1970, declined slightly to 88.5% in 2010, and is expected to decline further to 86.1% in 2020. Brazil was 88.6% Catholic in 1970 and is expected to be 7 4.6% Catholic in 2020.

While some of the decline of Roman Catholicism can be attributed to secularization, the majority of those who leave are joining Protestant or Pentecostal churches. For example, in Brazil—the country with the larg - est Christian population in Latin America—Protestants and Independents combined represented 12.9% of the population in 1970 but are expected to grow to 28.8% by 2020. Renewalists in Latin America have ex - perienced astounding growth, from 12.8 million in 1970 to 181.3 million in 2010 and an expected 203.0 mil - lion by 2020. Pentecostals in particular are gaining an increased role in public life. Guatemala has recently had two Pentecostal presidents, and a Pentecostal political party has been founded in Nicaragua.

Evangelicals are also making gains in Latin America, growing from 9.2 million in 1970 to 47.2 million in 2010, with projected growth to 59.6 million by 2020. Brazil is home to the region’s largest two Evangelical denominations, the Assemblies of God (23 million members) and the National Evangelization Crusade (2.3 million). The growth of both Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism has caused strain with the long-established Roman Catholic Church.

Marginal Christianity has growth significantly in Latin America, from only 0.3% of the population in 1970 to an expected 2.1% by 2020 (an average growth rate of 5.8% per year, the largest continent-wide growth rate for any major Christian tradition globally over the 50-year period). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints has made great gains in some of the smaller island nations, such as Netherland Antilles, Aruba, and St. Kitts & Nevis. Jehovah’s Witnesses averaged growth of more than 5% per year in Nicaragua and Honduras and number over 40,000 in each country in 2010.

The Caribbean ..Protestants are the largest Christian tradition in most English- speaking nations in the Caribbean...Independents, the third-largest Christian tradition in the region, represented 4.2% of the population in 2010 and are growing at an even faster rate per annum than Protestants, averaging 2.6% per annum from 1970 to 2020. ..Spiritists are the second-largest religious group in the Caribbean.

Central America...The region was 89.8% Roman Catholic in 1970 and is expected to be 83.9% Roman Catholic in 2020. Roman Catholics’ average annual rate of growth (0.9%) is expected to remain below the rate of population growth in the region (1.2%) between 2010 and 2020. Mexico, whose geographic area and population vastly outweigh those of the rest of the region, has maintained the high - est levels of Catholicism, decreasing only from 90.7% in 1970 to 88.5% in 2010.

The growth of Independent—and especially Pentecostal—churches throughout Central America since 1970 has been undeniably dramatic...

Protestant churches have experienced even more dramatic growth than Independents, increasing steadily from 2.1% of the population in 1970 to a projected 7.3% in 2020. In 2010 Protestants represented more than 10 million Central Americans. Throughout the region, Protestant percentages are expected to exceed 10% of the population for the period 2010–20 in every country except Mexico.

South America...The Christian percentage of South America’s population dropped from 95.1% in 1970 to 91.9% in 2010 and is anticipated to drop again slightly by 2020, to 91.4%. Like Latin America generally, the vast majority of this region is Roman Catholic...The relative decline of Catholicism has paralleled explosive Protestant, Independent, and Marginal growth. Brazil typifies these changes and, because nearly 50% of South A merica’s population lives there, heav - ily weights the statistics presented here. Brazil was 88.6% Roman Catholic in 1970 and 77.1% Catholic in 2010. This share is projected to continue decreasing, to 74.6% in 2020. Protestants represent the second- largest Christian group in Brazil, increasing from 7.6% of the population in 1970 to 16.6% in 2010 and 17.6% (37 million people) in 2020. Independents have increased from 5.3% in 1970 to 10.4% in 2010 and 11.2% in 2020. Marginal groups, although representing a less-significant numerical share of Brazil’s popu - lation, have increased from 0.3% in 1970 to 1.5% in 2010 and 1.7% in 2020....his pattern of slight Catholic decline and strong Protestant, Independent, and Marginal growth is repeated throughout most of South America. Notable exceptions are the small nation of Guyana, where the majority of Christians are Protestant (26.8% of the total population in 2010, up from 13.3% in 1970), and Suriname, where all Christian groups are on the rise but especially Catholics, with a growth rate of 1.5% over the 50-year period and 1.3% from 2010-2020, compared to 0.9% and 0.8% growth in the general population. It is also worth pointing out that in Chile, Independents are expected to make up 25.1% of the population by 2020 (up from 14.7% in 1970 and 23.8% in 2010), a greater share by far than in any other country in the region and representing 4.7 million people by 2020. ..The rise of Independents and Protestants throughout the region reflects a thriving Pentecostal movement.

Northern America..he demographics of Northern America are dominated by the United States. In no other region does a single country hold a higher share (more than 90%) of the total population or the Christian population, let alone both.

Over the period 1970–2010 the Christian share of the population in each country shrank—most dramatical - ly in Canada, where Christians fell from 94.5% of the population in 1970 to 69.4% in 2010, with a projected drop to 66.0% by 2020. The United States also saw a large decline in its Christian percentage, from 90.9% of the population in 1970 to 80.1% in 2010 (78.1% by 2020). Rom an Catholics are the largest single Chris - tian tradition, although only a plurality, in both Canada (where they are also a majority of church members) and the United States. The Catholic share of Canada’s population has held steady over the 40-year period (41.7% in 1970, 43.6%% in 2020), but there are sharp losses among both Protestants (from 19.1% of the to - tal population in 1970 to 9.4% in 2020) and Anglicans (from 5.4% in 1970 to 1.5% in 2020). Similar patterns are evident in the United States (Roman Catholics: 23.1% in 1970 and 22.5% by 2020; Protestants: 27.3% versus 16.5%; Anglicans: 1.5% versus 0.6%). Note that Independents have surpassed Protestants as the second-largest tradition in the United States.

The seeming paradox in Northern America as a whole is the rise in the number of Christians who are not affiliated with any particular church tradition. This phenomenon has been occurring most prominently in Canada, Greenland, and the United States. The religiously unaffiliated—who include, but not exclusively, agnostics and atheists—is a major change in the religious demographics of the region.

Oceania...In 1970, Christians were 92.5% of the region’s population. This is a marked increase from the 1910 Christian percentage (78.6%) and is indicative of the great suc - cess of missionary efforts from many different Christian traditions.

Anglicanism and Protestantism are the oldest traditions in the region as a result of early missionary efforts, in the latter case by Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Lutherans. As a result, in 1970 Anglicans and Protestants repre - sented 46.4% of the regional population. By 2020, however, that percentage is likely to drop to 34.4%, with Anglicanism actually shrinking (there will likely be only as many Anglicans in 2020 as there were in 1970).

Roman Catholics, Independents, Marginals, and Orthodox have each made gains over the 50-year period, although the Catholic percentage has been shrinking since 2000. Orthodox in particular have grown from 1.7% of the population to 2.6%, with more than 1 million adherents projected for 2020. However, nearly all of Oceania’s Orthodox are found in Australia. Orthodoxy is relatively new in Australia and largely a product of immigration from Europe...Marginal Christian traditions have also grown, mostly due to missionary efforts from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), which in 2010 had 129,000 adherents in Australia alone...

One major factor affecting the religious demograph - ics of Oceania is high rates of immigration from Asian countries. China is a significant sending country, contributing to the rise in Chinese folk-religionists

Australia/New Zealand..Historically, Anglicans have been the largest major Christian tradition in Australia/New Zealand. Since 1970, however, Roman Catholicism has surpassed Anglicanism as the largest major Christian tradition in the region (23.1% of the population in 2010, compared to Anglicanism’s 16.6%). Protestantism is also on the decline, from 17.8% of the population in 1970 to 11.5% by 2020..

Orthodox and Marginals are the only traditions that are poised to increase their shares of the population over the 50-year period. The rise in Orthodox is due to immigration from European countries..Marginal growth has been the result of missionary efforts from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Mormons now total 129,000 in Australia and 101,000 in New Zealand;

Independents are poised to grow in New Zealand, from 1.5% of the population in 1970 to 3.9% in 2020..Agnostics and atheists in Australia and New Zealand (ranking second and third) together constituted 22.2% of the region’s population in 2010, with a projected share of 26.7% by 2020.