Nearly one quarter of world’s population is Muslim, says report
Updated: Thursday, October 08, 2009
10:30GMT—6:30AM/EST
Washington, 8 October (WashingtonTV)—The world’s Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly one in four people in the world practice Islam, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report, three years in the making, is billed as the most comprehensive of its kind.
Earlier estimates of the global Muslim population range from one billion to 1.8 billion, according to CNN.
There are about 2.2 billion Christians worldwide, based on a 2005 report.
The Pew report presented a portrait of the Muslim world that may surprise some.
For instance, Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, and Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined, reports the Associated Press.
“The whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report,” said Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University, according to AP.
The report showed that the greatest number of Muslims live in Asia, more than 60 percent. About 20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 percent in Europe and 0.3 percent in the Americas.
Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, followed by Pakistan and India.
Sources: CNN News, Associated Press
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