Updates

Unless otherwise specified, each field in the World Christian Database shows data in a single 'base' year which is currently 2015. In January, this base year will change so that all data for a country refer to 2020.

WCD also shows time series data about each religion from 1900 to 2050 for each country. Data for selected years across that time frame are updated quarterly, and the sample religion queries on these web pages have until now had a particular focus on growth from 2005 to 2015.

In preparation for the country base year changing to 2020 in January, the sample religion queries are changing this quarter to highlight the 20 year growth to 2020. The 2005 and 2025 data points, while still being available, are being replaced for the new default points of 2000 and 2020.

As always, users can add any available data points for their own use, but these sample queries for now will focus on 2020.

This quarter includes the final instalment of a major denominational data update across all countries, as well as significant updates to smaller religions especially Jews, Bahais, Sikhs and Spiritists.

Also, changes to the official spelling of country names do not happen frequently nor lightly, but with this quarterly update the short name for the Czech Republic becomes Czechia, Macedonia becomes North Macedonia, and Tokelau Islands becomes Tokelau.

Database administrators may note that to accommodate North Macedonia's new order in the alphabet, the following country ID codes have also changed: 'mace' (Macedonia) becomes 'nmac', and 'nork' (North Korea) becomes 'nkor'. The primary keys of each country of course remain unchanged.