US Muslim Population to Double by 2050: Should We Be Worried?

Amid public angst regarding the threat of Islamic terrorism, a new report from the Pew Research Center projected the Muslim population in the United States will double by 2050.

The report comes amid growing public concerns regarding Islamic terrorism and a controversy surrounding remarks by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who called for a ban on Muslim immigration into the U.S.

“Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world,” the authors of the Pew report wrote. “The growth and regional migration of Muslims, combined with the ongoing impact of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other extremist groups that commit acts of violence in the name of Islam, have brought Muslims and the Islamic faith to the forefront of the political debate in many countries.”

Today, 1.6 billion Muslims exist in the world—roughly 23 percent of the global population. But while Islam is currently the world’s second-largest religion (after Christianity), it is the fastest-growing major religion. Indeed, if current demographic trends continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians by the end of the century.

In the U.S., Muslims make up less than 1 percent of the adult population. A 2011 survey of Muslim Americans estimated there were 1.8 million Muslim adults (and 2.75 million Muslims of all ages) in the country. The survey found a majority of U.S. Muslims, or 63 percent, are immigrants.

The Pew projects that Muslims will make up 2.1 percent of the U.S. population by 2050, surpassing people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion as the second-largest faith group in the country.

“Islam’s spectacular birthrates, the relative youth of Muslims and the increase in Muslim immigration into the United States combine to account for its accelerated growth rate in the U.S.,” wrote Thomas D. Williams in a Breitbart News story.