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| 09 Oct 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| Global Muslim population hits 1.57 billion: Report | |
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| The global Muslim map One in 4 people a practicing Muslim India has third largest number of Muslims, after Indonesia, Pak Mapping the Global Muslim Population One in four people is Muslim, says study One in four is Muslim, study says: BBC report Muslim population in EU expected to swell URL: http://newageislam.net/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1881 ------
Global Muslim population hits 1.57 billion: Report 8 October 2009
report on Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report provides a precise number for a population whose size has long has been subject to guesswork, with estimates ranging anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion. The project, three years in the making, also presents a portrait of the Muslim world that might surprise some. For instance, Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined, and Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan. "This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report," said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University who reviewed an advance copy. Pew officials call the report the most thorough on the size and distribution of adherents of the world's second largest religion behind Christianity, which has an estimated 2.1 billion to 2.2 billion followers. The arduous task of determining the Muslim populations in 232 countries and territories involved analyzing census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, the report says. In cases where the data was a few years old, researchers projected 2009 numbers. The report also sought to pinpoint the world's Sunni-Shiite breakdown, but difficulties arose because so few countries track sectarian affiliation, said Brian Grim, the project's senior researcher. As a result, the Shiite numbers are not as precise; the report estimates that Shiites represent between 10 and 13 percent of the Muslim population, in line with or slightly lower than other studies. As much as 80 percent of the world's Shiite population lives in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. The report provides further evidence that while the heart of Islam might beat in the Middle East, its greatest numbers lie in Asia: More than 60 percent of the world's Muslims live in Asia. About 20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 percent are in Europe and 0.3 percent are in the Americas. While the Middle East and North Africa have fewer Muslims overall than Asia, the region easily claims the most Muslim-majority countries. While those population trends are well established, the large numbers of Muslims who live as minorities in countries aren't as scrutinized. The report identified about 317 million Muslims _ or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population _ living in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. About three-quarters of Muslims living as minorities are concentrated in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million). In several of these countries _ from India to Nigeria and China to France _ divisions featuring a volatile mix of religion, class and politics have contributed to tension and bloodshed among groups. The immense size of majority-Hindu India is underscored by the fact that it boasts the third-largest Muslim population of any nation _ yet Muslims account for just 13 percent of India's population. "Most people think of the Muslim world being Muslims living mostly in Muslim-majority countries," Grim said. "But with India ... that sort of turns that on its head a bit." Among the report's other highlights: - Two-thirds of all Muslims live in 10 countries. Six are in Asia (Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey), three are in North Africa (Egypt, Algeria and Morocco) and one is in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria). - Indonesia, which has a tradition of a more tolerant Islam, has the world's largest Muslim population (203 million, or 13 percent of the world's total). Religious extremists have been involved in several high-profile bombings there in recent years. - In China, the highest concentrations of Muslims were in western provinces. The country experienced its worst outbreak of ethnic violence in decades when rioting broke out this summer between minority Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese. - Europe is home to about 38 million Muslims, or about five percent of its population. Germany appears to have more than 4 million Muslims _ almost as many as North and South America combined. In France, where tensions have run high over an influx of Muslim immigrant laborers, the overall numbers were lower but a larger percentage of the population is Muslim. - Of roughly 4.6 million Muslims in the Americas, more than half live in the United States although they only make up 0.8 percent of the population there. About 700,000 people in Canada are Muslim, or about 2 percent of the total population. A future Pew Forum project, scheduled to be released in 2010, will build on the report's data to estimate growth rates among Muslim populations and project future trends. A similar study on global Christianity is planned to begin next year. ----- One in 4 people a practicing Muslim By ERIC GORSKI AP Religion Writer October 9, 2009 The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a report Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report provides a precise number for a population whose size has long has been subject to guesswork, with estimates ranging anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion. The project, three years in the making, also presents a portrait of the Muslim world that might surprise some. For instance, Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined, and Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan. "This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report,'' said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University who reviewed an advance copy. Pew officials call the report the most thorough on the size and distribution of adherents of the world's second largest religion behind Christianity, which has an estimated 2.1 billion to 2.2 billion followers. The arduous task of determining the Muslim populations in 232 countries and territories involved analyzing census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, the report says. In cases where the data was a few years old, researchers projected 2009 numbers. The report also sought to pinpoint the world's Sunni-Shiite breakdown, but difficulties arose because so few countries track sectarian affiliation, said Brian Grim, the project's senior researcher. As a result, the Shiite numbers are not as precise; the report estimates that Shiites represent between 10 and 13 percent of the Muslim population, in line with or slightly lower than other studies. As much as 80 percent of the world's Shiite population lives in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. The report provides further evidence that while the heart of Islam might beat in the Middle East, its greatest numbers lie in Asia: More than 60 percent of the world's Muslims live in Asia. About 20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 percent are in Europe and 0.3 percent are in the Americas. While the Middle East and North Africa have fewer Muslims overall than Asia, the region easily claims the most Muslim-majority countries. While those population trends are well established, the large numbers of Muslims who live as minorities in countries aren't as scrutinized. The report identified about 317 million Muslims – or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population – living in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. About three-quarters of Muslims living as minorities are concentrated in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million), and Tanzania (13 million). Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/223986/one-4-people-a-practicing-muslim ----- The global Muslim map October 09, 2009 A report estimates the world’s Muslim population number to be 1.57 billion or approximately 23% of the world’s people. A new demographic study throws up some interesting facts on the distribution of the world’s Muslim population. A new report by Pew Research Centre’s Forum on religion and public life, ‘Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population’, released on 7 October, estimates the total number to be 1.57 billion or approximately 23% of the world’s people. The demographic study, conducted by Pew Forum researchers in consultation with demographers and social scientists at various universities worldwide, provides up-to-date information on the size and distribution (including sectarian distribution) of the Muslim population in 232 countries worldwide. Also See The global Muslim map (Graphics) According to the report, at least 60% of the global Muslim population lives in Asia, while 20% lives in West Asia and North Africa. Indonesia, with 203 million, has the world’s largest Muslim population, followed by Pakistan with 174 million and India with 161 million or 10.3% of the world Muslim population. About 20% of the world’s Muslims live in countries where they are in a minority, and of these India has the largest number. The study threw up some other interesting statistics—China, for example, has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined. For the complete report, go to www.pewforum.org,. The Pew Forum plans to launch a similar study of global Christianity in 2010. Source: http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/09002545/The-global-Muslim-map.html?h=B --- India has third largest number of Muslims, after Indonesia, Pak By S Rajagopalan October 9, 2009 A newly-released demographic study estimates the global Muslim population at 1.57 billion, accounting for nearly 23 per cent of the current total world population of 6.8 billion. India has the third largest number of Muslims (161 million), after Indonesia (203 million) and Pakistan (174 million), says the study, conducted by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The three South Asian nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with 480 million Muslims between them, make up for nearly a third of the world’s Muslim population (31 per cent). The study, titled “Mapping the Global Muslim Population”, claims to offer the most up-to-date and fully sourced estimates of the size and distribution of the worldwide Muslim population, including sectarian identity. One of its key findings is that more than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. “India, for example, has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide. China has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined,” it says. China’s Muslim population is put at 22 million and Russia’s at 16 million. Of the total Muslim population, 87-90 per cent are Sunni Muslims, while 10-13 per cent are Shias. Most Shias (68 to 80 per cent) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. While Pew claims a more definitive estimate of 1.57 billion Muslims, previously published estimates have ranged widely, from 1 billion to 1.8 billion. Pew says its estimate is based on “the best available data for 232 countries and territories”. The findings will form the basis for another Pew study to be released next year that proposes to estimate growth rates among Muslim populations worldwide and project Muslim populations into the future. ----- Mapping the Global Muslim Population October 2009 A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion. While Muslims are found on all five inhabited continents, more than 60% of the global Muslim population is in Asia and about 20% is in the Middle East and North Africa. However, the Middle East-North Africa region has the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. Indeed, more than half of the 20 countries and territories1 in that region have populations that are approximately 95% Muslim or greater. More than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the world's Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. These minority Muslim populations are often quite large. India, for example, has the third-largest population of Muslims worldwide. China has more Muslims than Syria, while Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined. Of the total Muslim population, 10-13% are Shia Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. These are some of the key findings of Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population, a new study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. The report offers the most up-to-date and fully sourced estimates of the size and distribution of the worldwide Muslim population, including sectarian identity. Previously published estimates of the size of the global Muslim population have ranged widely, from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.2 But these commonly quoted estimates often have appeared without citations to specific sources or explanations of how the figures were generated. The Pew Forum report is based on the best available data for 232 countries and territories. Pew Forum researchers, in consultation with nearly 50 demographers and social scientists at universities and research centers around the world, acquired and analyzed about 1,500 sources, including census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, to arrive at these figures - the largest project of its kind to date. (See Methodology for more detail.) The Pew Forum's estimate of the Shia population (10-13%) is in keeping with previous estimates, which generally have been in the range of 10-15%. Some previous estimates, however, have placed the number of Shias at nearly 20% of the world's Muslim population.3 Readers should bear in mind that the figures given in this report for the Sunni and Shia populations are less precise than the figures for the overall Muslim population. Data on sectarian affiliation have been infrequently collected or, in many countries, not collected at all. Therefore, the Sunni and Shia numbers reported here are expressed as broad ranges and should be treated as approximate. These findings on the world Muslim population lay the foundation for a forthcoming study by the Pew Forum, scheduled to be released in 2010, that will estimate growth rates among Muslim populations worldwide and project Muslim populations into the future. The Pew Forum plans to launch a similar study of global Christianity in 2010 as well. The Pew Forum also plans to conduct in-depth public opinion surveys on the intersection of religion and public life around the world, starting with a 19-country survey of sub-Saharan Africa scheduled to be released later this year. These forthcoming studies are part of a larger effort - the Global Religious Futures Project, jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation - that aims to increase people's understanding of religion around the world. 1 For a definition of “territories,” see the methodology. 2 See, for example, CIA World Factbook; Foreign Policy magazine, May 2007; Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, 2008; Adherents.com; and IslamicPopulation.com. 3 See, for example, IslamicWeb.com; “Shia Muslims in the Middle East,” Council on Foreign Relations, June 2006; and “The Revival of Shia Islam,” Vali Nasr speaking at a Pew Forum event, July 2006. Source: http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=450 ----- One in four people is Muslim, says study World Muslim population estimated to be 1.57 billion A woman carries a child on her shoulders as Muslims pray to celebrate Eid al-Adha in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photograph: Supri/Reuters Islam may be most closely associated with the Middle East, where it emerged in Arabia in the seventh century, but today the region is home to only one in five of the world's Muslims, according to a study of the religion's global distribution. The world's Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly one in four people practise Islam, according to the US Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which published the survey. This compares to 2.25 billion Christians. The top five Muslim countries in the world include only one in the Middle East ‑ Egypt ‑ behind Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, in that order. Russia, the survey shows, has more Muslims than the populations of Libya and Jordan combined. Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon. China has a bigger Muslim population than Syria. The work, the largest of its kind, was the result of three years of research examining data from 232 countries and territories. The portrait it provides of Islam's distribution could have a profound influence on public policy in the west, and on attempts by the US, British and other governments to reach out to Muslims. Extrapolating the figures from the survey, the Islam that is largely practised around the world, particularly in large swaths of Asia, is more moderate and integrated than its stereotypical characterisation as an often militant and intolerant faith. The reality, as described by Mapping the Global Muslim Population, is that two out of three Muslims are Asians, while the 38 million Muslims in Europe, if treated as a separate group, would be the ninth largest in the world, behind Turkey, with a population of 71 million, and ahead of Algeria, with 34 million. Pew Forum, in consultation with nearly 50 demographers and social scientists at universities and research centres around the world, analysed about 1,500 sources, including census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys, to arrive at their figures. The research is the first step in projecting growth trends in the world's Muslim population, and a similar survey is planned by the Pew Forum on the distribution of Christians. "This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report," said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University. "There are these countries that we don't think of as Muslim at all, and yet they have very sizeable numbers of Muslims," said Alan Cooperman, associate director of research for the Pew Forum, naming India, Russia and China. Islam had a huge geographic reach ‑ from the Atlantic coast to central Asia ‑ within a century of the prophet Muhammad's death, but until now its modern global profile was based on rough estimates. The Pew Forum study depicts the world's second largest religion as complex and nuanced, challenging the notion that its trajectory is defined by a minority of Islamists. Significantly, one in five of Muslims now lives in a country where they are represented as a religious minority, with three-quarters of that number concentrated in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million). The survey also attempted to quantify the relative sizes of the two main branches of Islam - Sunni and Shia - but came up against the difficulty that many national demographers did not distinguish between the two. It ended up suggesting that Shias, concentrated largely in four countries including Iran and Pakistan, probably made up between 10 and 13% of Muslims. Brian Grim, one of the researchers, said: "We started on this work because the estimates for the number of the world's Muslims ranged so widely, from 1 billion to 1.8 billion. For people who do this kind of work, perhaps the figures are not surprising but there are a lot of highly educated people who do not know that one in four are Muslim." Grim believes that the methodical demographic nature of the survey, identifying each Muslim population, may help to challenge preconceptions and prejudices about Islam. For Grim, one of the most surprising figures to emerge was just how many of the world's Islamic population is living as a minority. Maha Azzam, an associate fellow of Chatham House and an expert on Islam, said : "I think the survey is excellent and does help with the understanding of Islam. It is still associated for too many people with politics and conflict ‑ issues such as Palestine and Iraq and more recently Afghanistan and Pakistan. What it shows is that Islam exists in many countries but crucially across many different cultures ‑ some where it is tolerated and some where it is not. "The sheer scale of the world's Muslim population and its spread should encourage people to ask more questions about why so many people are Muslims and what they really believe. It shows there are Muslims in societies and areas that people don't immediately think of. But there are still many people who assume the majority of Muslims are Arabs." She cautioned, however, saying: "I feel that any report can be alarmist in the minds of some people. They see the numbers and see how many there are of 'them'. It depends on the reader." Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/08/muslim-population-islam-survey ----- One in four is Muslim, study says Muslims offer prayers at London's Central Mosque A report from an American think-tank has estimated 1.57 billion Muslims populate the world - with 60% in Asia. The report, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, took three years to compile, with census data from 232 countries and territories. It showed that 20% of Muslims lived in the Middle East and North Africa. The data also showed that there were more Muslims in Germany than in Lebanon, and more in Russia than in Jordan and Libya together. Surprise Researchers analysed approximately 1,500 sources including census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys. Senior researcher Brian Grim told CNN that the overall figure was a surprise and said: "Overall, the number is higher than I expected." MUSLIM POPULATION BY REGION Asia and the Pacific: 61.9% Middle East - North Africa: 20.1% Sub-Saharan Africa: 15.3% Europe: 2.4% Americas: 0.3% The report, published on Wednesday, also found that Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan. Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University, told the AP news agency: "This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report." Instead the report found that more than 300 million Muslims live in countries where Islam was not the majority religion. Of the total Muslim population, 10-13% are Shia Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias live in Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. More from BBC World Service Europe is home to 38 million Muslims - around 5% of its population with European Muslims making up slightly more than 2% of the world's Muslim population. More than half of the 4.6 million Muslims in the Americas live in the US - however they make up just 0.8% of the population there. The Pew Forum has said the findings will lay the foundation for a forthcoming study that will look at how Muslim populations worldwide have grown and what they may look like in the future. It also plans to compile figures for the other major world religions. According to internet-based group, Adherents, there are currently 2.1 billion Christians, 900 million Hindus and 14 million Jews worldwide. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8296200.stm ------ Muslim population in EU expected to swell Figures show Britain will be among the EU countries with the highest Muslim population. A fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2050 (telegraph.co.uk, 08 Aug 2009) Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent (telegraph.co.uk, 08 Aug 2009) Disproving the Muslim Demographics sums (bbc.co.uk, 07 August 2009) Muslim appointed as BBC head of religion (13 May 2009) Green adviser calls for two-child policy (04 February 2009) Monday, 10 August 2009 European Union countries including Britain can expect to see a large increase in the Muslim population by the middle of the 21st century, statisticians have predicted. They say increasing levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among Europeans could bring the EU’s Muslim population up to 20 per cent by 2050. In 2008, just five per cent of the EU population was Muslim. The Daily Telegraph’s Foreign Editor Adrian Michaels called the situation a “demographic time bomb”. Mr Michaels warned that the issue was being ignored by mainstream parties, and added: “Into the void has stepped a resurgent group of extreme-Right political parties, among them the British National Party, which gained two seats at recent elections to the European Parliament.” A report for the American Pew Research Center described the impact on the EU countries of a large rise in Muslim numbers. It said: “These countries possess deep historical, cultural, religious and linguistic traditions. Injecting hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of people who look, speak and act differently into these settings often makes for a difficult social fit.” Angel Gurría, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development secretary-general, said in June: “Migration is not a tap that can be turned on and off at will. We need fair and effective migration and integration policies; policies that work and adjust to both good economic times and bad ones.” Precise figures are scarce due to European countries not collecting statistics on their citizens’ religion. But Karoly Lorant, a Hungarian economist who wrote a paper for the European Parliament, calculates that Muslims already make up 25 per cent of the population in Marseilles and Rotterdam, 20 per cent in Malmo, 15 per cent in Brussels and Birmingham and 10 per cent in London, Paris and Copenhagen. A YouTube video released in March quoted demographics to suggest that Islam will become the dominant religion in Europe. The video has been viewed over ten million times. But a BBC report casts doubts on the video’s use of fertility statistics. Source: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/muslim-population-in-eu-expected-to-swell/ ----- URL: http://newageislam.net/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1881
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WASHINGTON: The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a
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