A study  has revealed that 23 per cent of world population is Muslims and Islam has the lowest median age as half of the Muslims are 23-year-old or younger.

Islamabad, Dec 20/Nationalturk – A study conducted by Washington-based Pew Research Center’s Forum has revealed that 23 per cent of world population is Muslims and Islam has the lowest median age as half of the Muslims are 23-year-old or younger, compared to 28 for the whole world population.

The Pew study on “Religion and Public Life” in 230 countries and territories has estimated that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.

The study based on analysis of more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers – revealed that 2.2 billion Christians (32% of the world’s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23%), 1 billion Hindus (15%), nearly 500 million Buddhists (7%) and 14 million Jews (0.2%) around the world as of 2010.

According to the study Muslims number 1.6 billion. “The overwhelming majority (87-90%) of Muslims are Sunnis and about 10-13% are Shia Muslims”.

The Pew research reveals that Muslims are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, where six-in-ten (62%) of all Muslims reside. “Many Muslims also live in the Middle East and North Africa (20%) and sub-Saharan Africa (16%). The remainder of the world’s Muslim population is in Europe (3%), North America (less than 1%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (also less than 1%).”

“Although a majority of world’s Muslims live in Asia and the Pacific, only about one-in-four people (24%) in that region are Muslims. By contrast, the Middle East-North Africa region has an overwhelmingly Muslim population (93%), but they represent only about 20% of the world’s Muslims. Muslims also make up about three-in-ten people in sub-Saharan Africa, 6% of those who live in Europe, 1% of North Americans, and less than 1% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean,” it said.

Muslims make up  majority of  population in 49 countries

The study said the 10 countries with the largest number of Muslims are home to fully two-thirds (66%) of all Muslims. The largest share lives in Indonesia (13%), followed by India (11%), Pakistan (11%), Bangladesh (8%), Nigeria (5%), Egypt (5%), Iran (5%), Turkey (5%), Algeria (2%) and Morocco (2%).

It further said that Muslims make up a majority of the population in 49 countries. Nearly three-quarters of all Muslims (73%) live in these countries. “Although Muslims are a minority in India (14% of the total population), India nonetheless has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world (in raw numbers).”

Median Age

According to Pew study, Muslims are younger (median age of 23) than the overall global population (median age of 28). “Among the five regions for which data are available, Muslims are youngest in sub-Saharan Africa (median age of 17), followed by the Middle East and North Africa (23), Asia and the Pacific (24), North America (26) and Europe (32).”

“Muslims are younger than the general population in each of the major regions for which data are available: North America (Muslims 26 years; general population 37 years), Europe (32 vs. 40), Asia and the Pacific (24 v s. 29), sub-Saharan Africa (17 vs. 18) and the Middle East and North Africa (2 3 vs. 24),” it further revealed.

 

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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk  Pakistan News

 

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