Muslim and Christian populations could be nearly equal by 2050, with Islam expected to be the fastest-growing faith, according to projections released Thursday.

The Pew Research Center’s religious profile predictions assessed data from around the world on fertility rates, trends in youth population growth and religious conversion statistics.

The authors predicted there will be 2.76 billion Muslims and 2.92 billion Christians around the world by 2050. Those figures would correspond to about 29.7 and 31.4 percent of the world’s population, respectively.

There were 1.6 billion Muslims in 2010, compared to 2.17 billion Christians.

Muslims are expected to account for 10 percent of Europe’s overall population, Pew added.

If the trend continues, Islam will be the most popular faith in the world after 2070, it said.