Fall and rise of ChristianityIn his latest book, "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity," Jenkins says that the center of Christianity has moved southward and the typical Christian in the world today is a Latin American or African woman.
Currently, Europeans make up about 28 percent of the world's Christian population, down from 70 percent in 1900, said Dana Robert, a theology professor at Boston University who has written extensively on global Christianity.
By the year 2050, six nations will each have over 100 million Christians, Jenkins projects. Only one, the United States, represents the "advanced industrialized world." The other countries are Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).
Jenkins notes that "traditional heartlands of Christianity" such as Britain, France and Italy are absent from the list.