U.S. Muslim population continues to grow: Report

“New estimates show U.S. Muslim population continues to grow,” Besheer Mohamed, a senior researcher with the Pew Research Center, reported on Wednesday.

The analysis found that 3.45 million Muslims live in America, based on the pollster’s current research and U.S. Census data.

“Muslims in the U.S. are not as numerous as the number of Americans who identify as Jewish by religion, according to our estimate. At the same time, our projections suggest that the U.S. Muslim population will grow much faster than the country’s Jewish population. By 2040, Muslims will replace Jews as the nation’s second-largest religious group after Christians. And by 2050, the U.S. Muslim population is projected to reach 8.1 million,” Mr. Mohamed said.

“When we first conducted a study of Muslim Americans in 2007, we estimated that there were 2.35 million Muslims of all ages (including 1.5 million adults) in the U.S. By 2011, the number of Muslims had grown to 2.75 million (including 1.8 million adults). Since then, the Muslim population has continued to grow at a rate of roughly 100,000 per year, driven both by higher fertility rates among Muslim Americans as well as the continued migration of Muslims to the U.S.”

In addition, an expansive Pew Research poll of U.S. Muslims last year also found that 75 percent of the respondents said there was “a lot of discrimination” against Muslims in America, 68 percent said President Trump worried them, 62 percent said Americans do not see Islam as part of “mainstream society,” 60 percent said the U.S. media does not cover Islam fairly, and half said life in the U.S. had gotten more difficult in recent years.

“Despite the concerns and perceived challenges they face, 89 percent of Muslims say they are both proud to be American and proud to be Muslim. Fully eight-in-ten say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their lives. And a large majority of U.S. Muslims continue to profess faith in the American dream, with 70 percent saying that most people who want to get ahead can make it in America if they are willing to work hard,” Mr. Mohamed reported.