In the United States, the number of Muslims is expected to increase from 2.6 million in 2010 to 6.2 million by 2030, in large part because of immigration and higher-than-average fertility among Muslims.
The Muslim share of the U.S. population (adults and children) is projected to grow from 0.8% in 2010 to 1.7% in 2030, making Muslims roughly as numerous as Jews or Episcopalians are in the United States today. Pew Research reports, “Although several European countries will have substantially higher percentages of Muslims, the United States is projected to have a larger number of Muslims by 2030 than any European country other than Russia and France.”
About two-thirds of the Muslims in the U.S. today (64.5%) are first-generation immigrants, while slightly more than a third (35.5%) were born in the U.S. By 2030, however, nearly half of the Muslims in the U.S. (44.9%) are expected to be born here.
The top countries of origin for Muslims in the U.S. are Pakistan and Bangladesh.—Pew Research Center (Jan. 2011)
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