Pew Report: Muslims To Become 2nd-Largest Religious Group In U.S.

Published: Monday, January 29, 2018 - 3:02pm
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Muslims are set to become the second-largest religious group in the United States after Christians by 2040.

That’s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center that says, in 2017, there were nearly 3.5 million Muslims living in the U.S. And the population continues to grow by about 100,000 a year.

Pew found that the vast majority of this growth is coming from immigration and high fertility rates among Muslim families.

Now, Muslims still measure just over 1 percent of the population.

But Pew also reports that by 2050 the U.S. Muslim population is projected to reach more than 8 million, or more than 2 percent of the nation’s total population, so that’s nearly twice the share of today.

What does this growth mean for the Muslim community in the U.S.? 

Arsalan Iftikhar is a human rights lawyer and a senior fellow for The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University. He said one reason this growth might surprise you is because the Muslim population in the U.S. is so diverse.

Here in the Valley Muslim communities are also experiencing this growth.

Kristy Sabbah works at the Islamic Community Center of Tempe.

Sabbah is a convert to Islam and she said she’s not surprised by this report either. But she still thinks there’s work to be done to overcome the many prejudices that Muslims face here.

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