Some 317,952 children aged under five, or 9.1 per cent, were registered as being Muslim in the 2011 census, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.
As a measure of how the religious demographics of England and Wales are changing, the figure is nearly double the 4.8 per cent of the whole population who are Muslim, while fewer than one in 200 people aged over 85 are Muslim.
It is also an 80 per cent increase on the 176,264 Muslim under-fives recorded in the 2001 census.
"It certainly is a startling figure," David Coleman, professor of demography at Oxford University, told The Times newspaper on Friday.
"Continuing immigration from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India has been added to by new immigration from African countries and from the Middle East.
"Birth rates of Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin remain quite high, although falling."
Muslims have the youngest age profile of the main religious groups. Nearly half of Muslims (48 per cent) were aged under 25 (1.3 million).
The figures showed that Christianity remains by far the most common religion registered for babies in England and Wales, at more than 1.5 million, or 43.7 per cent.
Nearly as many parents listed their children under five as having no religion - the answer given for nearly 1.2 million (34.1 per cent).
The next most common religions registered for British toddlers after Christianity and Islam were Hinduism at 55,869 (1.6 per cent), Sikhism at 28,380 (0.8 per cent), Judaism at 18,221 (0.5 per cent) and Buddhism at 9,026 (0.3 per cent).
Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain umbrella group, said the number of Muslim babies reflected the confidence of the community.
"It's not about Britain becoming a Muslim country but about Britain enabling the practice of Islam, which gives confidence to the vast majority of Muslims," he told The Times.
Thirteen children aged under five were being raised in witchcraft, while 121 had heavy metal as their stated religion. Some 4,700 were listed as "Jedi knight", the statistics showed.
ONS figures showed that Mohammed was the most popular name for newborn baby boys in England and Wales in 2009, though 12 different spellings of that name meant that Oliver officially topped the chart.
COMMENTS (15)
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Every child born muslim,its their parents who convert it to some other religion
ET please email me if you are not publishing my comments so that we don't waste our time on commenting.
@Nobody:
Here is a Dawn report on Canada.
http://www.dawn.com/news/718842/pakistani-canadians-falling-below-the-poverty-line
The Author has especially compared it to Indians. And, the UK trend manifests itself.
US's immigration is easier if you are high skilled or pursuing higher education. Hence, only the cream tend to end up in US. That explains the lesser poverty numbers.
But, UK and Canada have followed liberals immigration policies and when that happens, Indians Hindus and Sikhs and Jains, tend to move forward rapidly.
A Sikh is the PM of a Nation of 80% Hindu. The only difference I see in Indians and Pakistanis is the Religion they follow.
In US, Indians form the RICHEST ethnic group, even beating the Jews. Pakistanis share the same Genes, but don't enjoy that great success rates in comparison.
@BruteForce: All true, except I'd like to point out something about Pakistanis in the US; a comparison between British Pakistanis and American Pakistanis would be a weak one. The two groups have stark differences in education rates and poverty rates. HIndus and Sikhs are better settled by a fairly large margin in the UK, as British Pakistanis have not made an effort to close the gap, but the gap is not as big in the US. American Pakistanis have an average income higher than the national average and are often well established compared to their British counterparts. Poverty rates are also lower in the US. The discrepancy stems from the group of Pakistanis who migrated to the UK decades ago and the group that migrated to the US. I have no numbers on Canadian or Australian Pakistanis so can't speak to that. Cheers.
@Khan: Sarcasm? Dear God I hope so.
@khan
It is exactly this type of (non)thinking and regurgitation of an absurd ideology that keeps Muslim countries backwards and regressive.
Do you think it is coincidence that a majority Muslim countires rank near last in every indicator of civilized society? Excluding oil, they produce and export little and add nothing to the advancement of the world.
This is happening not just in UK. Even in India, the % of Muslim population has gone up by 5% since Independence.
The problem here is Muslim families tend to compromise on Education and Care and concentrate on increasing their numbers - a sort of Ghetto mentality.
http://www.leics.gov.uk/directactioncalcutta46.pdf
This above is a study by UK Parliament, where it is mentioned that Muslims form a higher percentage(13%) in prisons, than their actual % in the population(4%)
Due to lower Education, they are less likely to have jobs.
http://guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/feb/20/race.immigrationpolicy
Comparing to Hindus and Sikhs, who are migrants as well, Hindus and Sikhs are highly Educated, are most likely to have jobs and one of the richest ethnic groups.
This is the same even in US.
@Khan:
A cursory look at the Muslim and non-Muslim world will tell you that the former tend to be more violent, less Democratic and less free, than the latter.
If 10/10 are Muslim, tell me how will Britain escape this trend?
For the good for Britain, shouldn't it be the opposite?
I'm scared for Britain, as I look at Lebanon, Central African Republic, Sudan and Nigeria where a significant minority/half of the population seriously tried to put the rest down, when demographic changes occur.
This does not bode well for the future survival of the free world. See Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq.
In a hundred years England will be a Muslim state. All the remaining white Christians and atheist will seek political asylum in the US and Australia, fleeing persecution and harassment by youth gangs of with a foreign religion.
Insha'Allah one day that number will be 10/10. The world (at least the U.K.) will be a much safer place then.
UK should bring two child norm for these people like Myanmar, else the people on benefits will rise in proportion to this.
10 out of 10 are atheists. All babies born as atheist, parent and people teach them religions.