The American Muslim population stands a strong chance of doubling in size by 2050 and becoming the second largest religion by 2040, based on new estimates from the Pew Research Center.
At the moment, Pew believes that there’s approximately 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States. Given the total U.S. population, this means that Muslims currently comprise 1 percent. But by 2050, Pew thinks that Muslims may surge to 8.1 million.Part of the reason for that surge is due to Muslim immigration, Pew noted, since about 10 percent of all legal immigrants are Muslim. Another is because Muslim families tend to have far more children than the average, which is the case in Europe, as well. Even before that, however, Islam itself is projected to become the second largest religion in the U.S. by 2040, which is a far greater increase than that expected among Jews and Hindus.
