Updates

We have revamped the Detailed Examples home page by adding new queries that illustrate the breadth of information in the World Christian Database.

One example is Buddhist peoples outside Asia which shows the impact of emigration (sorting on mid-2005 reveals the largest as the Vietnamese of the USA). Another approach is Muslim Peoples of Southern Europe, a filter that spotlights Muslim peoples in a particular UN region.

Both of these examples can be adjusted by changing criteria (another religion or another region).

In addition, we have continued updating church membership figure for mid-2005 as published reports increasingly become available to replace projections from earlier years.

Most countries have had a significant strengthening of their 2005 church membership data, as published reports increasingly become available to replace projections from earlier years.

It is a fact of research life that statistics are usually required for 'the present' but there is a significant time lag between when statistics are gathered and when they can be published. Census data, for example, often takes several years from the time of the data collection to the time of first publication. In the meantime, population estimates are made by projecting data from previous years.

The World Christian Database is now in the final stages of consolidating global denominational membership with published membership data for the year 2005. This, together with it's earlier consolidated position for the year 2000, will provide a solid basis for projection to 2010 which in time will become WCD's next 'base year'.