'At 2.2bn, Muslims will be 26% of world population by 2030'
PARIS: Falling birth rates will slow the world's Muslim population growth over the next two decades, reducing it on average from 2.2% a year in 1990-2010 to 1.5% a year from now until 2030, a new study says.
Muslims will number 2.2 billion by 2030 compared to 1.6 billion in 2010, making up 26.4% of the world population compared to 23.4% now, according to estimates by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The report did not publish figures for worldwide populations of other major religions, but said the United Statesbased Pew Forum planned similar reports on growth prospects for worldwide Christianity , Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Judaism.
"The declining growth rate is due primarily to falling fertility rates in many Muslimmajority countries," it said, noting the birth rate is falling as more Muslim women are educated , living standards rise and rural people move to cities.
"Globally, the Muslim population is forecast to grow at about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population over the next two decades an average annual growth rate of 1.5% for Muslims, compared with 0.7%s for non-Muslims ," it said.
The report, entitled The Future of the Global Muslim Population, was part of a Pew Forum programme analysing religious change and its impact on societies around the world.
Pakistan will overtake Indonesia as the world's most numerous Muslim nation by 2030, it said, while Muslims in India will retain their global rank as the third largest Muslim population. Continued migration will swell the ranks of Europe's Muslim minorities by one-third by 2030, to 8% of the region's inhabitants from 6%, it said.
Muslims will number 2.2 billion by 2030 compared to 1.6 billion in 2010, making up 26.4% of the world population compared to 23.4% now, according to estimates by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The report did not publish figures for worldwide populations of other major religions, but said the United Statesbased Pew Forum planned similar reports on growth prospects for worldwide Christianity , Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Judaism.
"The declining growth rate is due primarily to falling fertility rates in many Muslimmajority countries," it said, noting the birth rate is falling as more Muslim women are educated , living standards rise and rural people move to cities.
"Globally, the Muslim population is forecast to grow at about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population over the next two decades an average annual growth rate of 1.5% for Muslims, compared with 0.7%s for non-Muslims ," it said.
The report, entitled The Future of the Global Muslim Population, was part of a Pew Forum programme analysing religious change and its impact on societies around the world.
Pakistan will overtake Indonesia as the world's most numerous Muslim nation by 2030, it said, while Muslims in India will retain their global rank as the third largest Muslim population. Continued migration will swell the ranks of Europe's Muslim minorities by one-third by 2030, to 8% of the region's inhabitants from 6%, it said.
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