Years – January 31, 2011

According to a report just released by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life, the Muslim population of Canada will triple over the next two decades, reaching 2.7 million by 2030. There are approximately 940,000 today.  At that time they will make up 6.6 percent of the population.  The report is the first in a series of population projections by religion to be released by the Pew Center over the next few years. 

Worldwide, the Muslim population is expected to increase by about 35 percent, rising to 2.2 billion by 2030, about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population. 

While Wahida Valiente, the national president of the Islamic Congress is concerned that the numbers will be used to stoke the flames of anti-Islamic rhetoric, a spokesperson for the Pew Research Center says that the report isn’t meant to do that. 

Valiente said, “Every time we talk about a growth in the Muslim population there’s that sense of, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose the identifying features of our Christian country.  If people are going to read this in the most negative way, then I’m very concerned.” 

Alan Cooperman of the Pew Research Centre responded by saying that before this study, which relies on census data and other national demographic records from more than 1,500 sources worldwide, there was no reliable data on the global makeup of the Muslim faith.  Estimates ranged wildly and irresponsibly. 

Cooperman said that the numbers merit attention.  If current trends continue, Muslims will make up 26.4 per cent of the world’s total projected population of 8.3 billion in 2030, up from 23.4 per cent of the estimated 2010 world population of 6.9 billion. 

There are certain parts of the world that will be impacted by the growth of Islam.  In sub-Saharan Africa the growth in numbers is huge, with millions of Muslims added.  By 2030 Pakistan will pass Indonesia as the most populous Muslim nation and in Europe the Muslim population is expected to reach 58 million, a significant increase from the present 44.1 percent. 

But the most noticeable increase will be in North America where immigration, fertility rates and the relatively youthful age of the Muslim population will cause the population to grow quickly compared to is relatively small base.

In Canada, Muslims are expected to make up 6.6 per cent of the total population in 2030, up from 2.8 per cent today. In the United States, the Muslim share of the population will rise to 1.7 per cent in 2030 from 0.8 per cent in 2010.

According to the 2001 Canadian census, the median age for Muslims in Canada was 28, compared with 37 for the general population. Nearly a third of Muslims in Canada were age 14 and younger, compared with 19.4 per cent of non-Muslims.

Source:  http://www.bibleleague.ca/news-detail-inter.php?id=329