In US, Muslims will outnumber Jews by 2040: study

With approximately 3.3 million Muslims currently residing in US, the number is set to increase

With approximately 3.3 million Muslims currently residing in the United States, an American-based think tank estimates the proportion of Muslim-American population is expected to double by 2050.

The Washington-based Pew Research Centre has predicted that the American-Muslim population will grow faster than the Jewish population, meaning Muslims will become the second-largest religious group in the country before 2040.

The research centre also estimates the proportion of the Muslim-American population is expected to double from its current one per cent.



Between 2010 and 2015, just over half of the estimated growth of the Muslim population was the result of immigration, the think tank said, adding that overall Muslims in the United States have higher than average birthrates.

The findings are part of a demographic projection of religious groups in the US, which also estimates there are 5.7 million "Jews by religion" across the country.

"In some cities Muslims comprise significantly more than 1% of the community," the report said. "And even at the state-level Muslims are not evenly distributed. Certain states, such as New Jersey, have two or three times as many Muslim adults per capita as the national average."



"Recent political debates in the US over Muslim immigration and related issues have prompted many to ask how many Muslims actually live in the US. But coming up with an answer is not easy, in part because the US Census Bureau does not ask questions about religion - there is no official government count of the US Muslim population," the centre explained.

This article originally appeared on Haaretz