Read the full Pew report here
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
If you are interested in the concentrations of Muslim populations worldwide, take a look at the cool (or alarming, depending on your perspective) interactive graphic produced by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center.
Using proportionate bubbles, it maps the size of Muslims communities worldwide. It's part of Pew's big demographic study of the global Muslim population, which finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages and that one in four people living today is Muslim.
(By way of comparison, most estimates put the worldwide Christian population in excess of 2 billion, making up one-third of the world population.)
But back to the graphic. While 80 percent of the world's Muslims live in countries where Muslims are the majority, some Muslims communities that are minorities in their homeland are larger than in countries that we traditionally think of as Muslim. The study found that more than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of the Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion.
For example:
China has almost the same number of Muslims as Saudi Arabia.
Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined.
Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon.
India has one of the world's largest concentrations of Muslims.
Of countries with Muslim populations, the U.S. has one of the smallest.
These numbers "aren't necessarily unknown," says Pew Forum senior researcher Brian J. Grim. "But to look at the world and see where the large populations of Muslims live is astounding."
What does this mean politically? A lot. In some countries, the proportion of Muslims is enormously sensitive. In Nigeria, where the sizes of the Muslim and Christian communities are enormously sensitive, census questions to determine people's faith have caused riots and deaths.
But this study is just the beginning for Pew, says Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum's associate director for research. It is the beginning of an ambitious project to map the world's religions and explore their growth and the attitudes of their adherents. Pew's next phase is to project population growth among Muslims 10 and 20 years from now. Those numbers will be released next year.
Pew also recently completed face-to-face interviews with 19,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa (where the vast majority of people are either Christian or Muslim), where they were questioned about religious beliefs, practices, pocketbook issues, the degree of overlap between the majority religions, traditional religious beliefs and attitudes of Muslims and Christians towards each other.
Pew is also mapping the Christian population, its projected growth country-by-country, and Christians' beliefs and practices. Then it will will move onto the other major world religions, said Cooperman.
For anyone interested in the spread of particular faiths, world strife, and for those looking for a sense of what this world will look like in the coming decades, the Pew reports will be essential reading.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/10/09/pew-world-muslim-population-at-16-billion-with-minority-in-middle-east.html
Pew: World Muslim Population at 1.6 Billion, With Minority in Middle East
October 09, 2009 11:36 AM ET Dan Gilgoff Permanent Link Print
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
A major new demographic study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life pegs the world's Muslim population at 1.57 billion. Previous estimates had put the number at anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.
Americans tend to associate Islam with the Arab Street and Middle East politics, but the study finds that just 20 percent of the global Muslim population resides in the Middle East and North Africa. Sixty percent of Muslims live in Asia.
The Middle East-North Africa region, meanwhile, is home to the highest proportion of Muslim majority nations. "More than half of the 20 countries and territories in that region have populations that are approximately 95 percent Muslim or greater," according to the new report.
Other interesting tidbits:
—Two thirds of the global population lives in these 10 countries: Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Iran, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco.
—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 percent are Shia Muslims and 87-90 percent are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias (between 68 percent and 80 percent) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq
http://oregonfaithreport.com/2009/10/data-mulsims-at-157-billion-nearly-25-of-faiths/
Data: Mulsims at 1.57 billion, nearly 25% of faiths
October 11, 2009
New Study Estimates Global Muslim Population at 1.57 Billion
Washington, DC–A new, 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. Released today by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Mapping the Global Muslim Population offers the most up-to-date and fully sourced estimates of the size and distribution of the worldwide Muslim population, including sectarian identity.
Key findings include:* 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.
* The Middle East-North Africa region has the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. More than half of the 20 countries and territories 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.
Previously published estimates of the size of the global Muslim population have ranged widely, from 1 billion to 1.8 billion. The new study 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, 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.
The report includes an executive summary, maps and charts illustrating Muslims’ geographic distribution, explanations of the study’s methodologies and a list of data sources by country. The report is available online (http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=450).
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 undertake similar demographic studies of the major global religions in the future.
The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life delivers timely, impartial information on issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs. The Pew Forum is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy organization and does not take positions on policy debates. Based in Washington, D.C., the Pew Forum is a project of the Pew Research Center, which is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2009/10/report-global-muslim-population-hits.html
Report: Global Muslim population hits 1.57 billion [and what's worrying its a crime to leave]
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No doubt the secret Christians of Iran and the Middle East would have been counted as Muslim. As no one is allowed to legally leave Islam - these numbers can only be a rough estimate at best. 60% of these Muslims live in Asia. India's Muslims numbers have jumped significantly from 100 million to 161 million. All while Pakistan's religious minority numbers shrink. 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa, with 2.4% in Europe. Germany has more Muslims that all the Americas combined - that would explain why the American's Muslims behave so well - as Obama likes to brag. And why so many Americans completely don't get Europe's problems - with Muslim demands [really for supremacy]. Some one in the international community is going to have to start sticking their neck out - here is a religion no doubt growing under the weight of its own birth rate - that forbids people under pain of death, imprisonment and torture to leave it. To stand idly by then we are just as guilty.Next year a comprehensive survey of Christians in the world will begin. We know Catholic numbers have been shooting up above natural birth rates - and had reached 1.2 billion last year - compared to the Muslim est. at the time of 1.31 Muslims. It would be interesting to see what the survey of Christians produces - will they attempt to come up with a number or estimate for the secret Christians in the Islamic world - banned from openly proclaiming their religious beliefs. Or will it be a politically correct counting of heads - careful not to offend - this growing and increasingly boisterous Islamic contingent. 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).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.(AP)
By taffyincanada October 8, 2009
http://vladtepesblog.com/?p=14056
CBCNEWS…Nearly one in four of the world’s 6.8 billion people are Muslim, with about 700,000 of them living in Canada, says a report released in Washington, D.C., Thursday.
The world’s Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report.
It was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation, which aim to increase people’s understanding of religion around the world.
Three years in the making, the report analyzed 1,500 databases and surveyed 50 demographers and researchers in 232 countries. It paints a surprising portrait of where Muslims live globally.
More than 300 million Muslims live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion, and these minority Muslim populations are often quite large. India, for example, which has a majority Hindu population, also 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. Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon and Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan.
Moreover, while the epicentre of Islam is in the Middle East, more than 60 per cent of the world’s Muslims live in Asia.
About 20 per cent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 per cent in Europe and 0.3 per cent in the Americas.
After Christianity, which has 2.2 billion followers worldwide, Islam is the world’s second-largest religion.
A similar study on global Christianity is planned for next year.
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