The decline of Christianity in the Western world is the decreasing Christian affiliation in the Western world. While most countries in the Western world were historically almost exclusively Christian, the post-World War II era has seen developed countries with modern, secular educational facilities shifting towards post-Christian, secular, globalized, multicultural and multifaith societies. While Christianity is currently the predominant religion in Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States, the religion is declining in many of these areas, including Western Europe, North America, and Oceania. A decline in Christianity among countries in Latin America's Southern Cone has also contributed to a rise in irreligion in Latin America. Pew Research Center (PEW) has found a retention rate among Western European Christians closer to 83% (ranging from 57% in the Netherlands to 91% in Austria), however, the overwhelming majority of those who have left Christianity in Western Europe now identify as religiously unaffiliated. More recent study published in 2022 by Pew Research Center, have found a retention rate among American Christians closer to 67%, and cited that the decline of Christianity is primarily due to people leaving Christianity and choosing to have no religious affiliation (rather than due to people converting to other religions). Pew Research Center projects that Christians will make up less than half of the American population by 2070, with estimated ranges for that year falling between 35% and 46% of the American population (down from 64% in 2022 and from 91% in 1976). Background According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, throughout the next four decades, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion. It is also expected that Christianity may have the largest net losses in terms of religious conversion. Religious conversions are projected to have a "modest impact on changes in the Christian population" worldwide between 2010 and 2050; and may negatively affect the growth of Christian population and its share of the world's populations "slightly". However, these forecasts lack reliable data on religious conversion in China, but according to media reports and expert assessments, it is possible that the rapid growth of Christianity in China may maintain, or even increase, the current numerical advantage of Christianity as the largest religion in the world. In the United States, there have been some conversions to Christianity among those who grew up non-religious but it has not been in numbers that make up for those who were raised Christian