Islam will be the biggest religion in the world by 2070, research finds

Islam is now the only religion growing faster than the growth rate of the world’s population – and it will be the world’s most popular by the year 2070, research found.

America’s Pew Research Centre analysed change among the world’s religions – and predicted that Muslims will make up 10% of Europe’s population by 2050.

In 2010, there were 1.6 billion Muslims and 2.17 billion Christians – but by 2050 there will be 2.76 billion Muslims and 2.92 billion Christians.

At that rate of growth, Islam will have more followers than Christianity by the year 2070.

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Pew says that the growth is largely due to the fact that Muslims, on average, have more children – and that, on average, Muslims are younger, and therefore more likely to have children soon.

Pew says, ‘There are two major factors behind the rapid projected growth of Islam, and both involve simple demographics. For one, Muslims have more children than members of other religious groups. Around the world, each Muslim woman has an average of 3.1 children, compared with 2.3 for all other groups combined.

‘Muslims are also the youngest (median age of 23 years old in 2010) of all major religious groups, seven years younger than the median age of non-Muslims. As a result, a larger share of Muslims already are, or will soon be, at the point in their lives when they begin having children. This, combined with high fertility rates, will fuel Muslim population growth.’