By the end of the 21st century, Islam is likely to overtake all other religions of the planet in terms of the number of followers. This is the conclusion reached by employees of the American research center "Pew Research Center" in Washington. Researchers believe that the current trend may well lead to this, and the number of Islamists in the world will exceed the number of Christians.
Christianity is the most popular religion today, with 2.2 billion adherents, according to experts. Next comes Islam, with 1.6 billion followers. The top three is closed by Hinduism, which today is professed by 1 billion people. However, demographic trends indicate to experts that by the end of this century, the number of followers of Islam will exceed the number of followers of Christianity.
What is the reason for this situation? Americans note the high birth rate in Muslim regions, thanks to which most modern Islamists are young. In addition, in many countries Islam is the state religion, while states with a large number of Christians are secular - for example, they also have a large number of atheists and representatives of other faiths, including Islam.
Currently, 62 percent of Islamists live in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the forecasts of researchers from the Pew Research Center, by 2050 India will become the country where the majority of the world's Islamists - about 300 million - will live. At the same time, at least 10 percent of citizens in Europe will profess Islam. This will be largely due to the influx of immigrants from Muslim countries to the European Union. However, Islam is gradually being adopted by the indigenous people of many advanced states. For example, over the past two decades, the number of Islamists among Norwegians has increased from 500 to 3000, although Norway, along with Japan, is considered the country least susceptible to foreign religious movements.
At the same time, it is noted that the inhabitants of many secular states greatly exaggerate the number of adherents of Islam in their countries. For example, a sociological survey was recently conducted in France, and many French people reported that about 30 percent of the inhabitants of their country are Islamists. In fact, the followers of Islam today make up "only" 7.5 percent of all citizens of the Fifth Republic.