The Muslim population in Britain is growing 10 times faster than other sections of society.
According to Britain’s National Office of Statistics, the Muslim population in Britain has risen by more than 500,000 in 4 years, reaching 2.422 million by the end of 2008.
During the same period, the Christian population in the country fell by more than 2 million; 42.6 million Christians live in Britain.
Experts say that the rapid rise in the Muslim population stems from migration, a high birth rate and conversions between 2004 and 2008. They also say that one section of the population that had been reluctant to describe itself as Muslim in the past now felt freer to do so with the strengthening of its identity following the war on terror declared by the West, and that this had also had an effect on the figures.
Leaders of the Muslim community have expressed their pleasure at the impact on the rising Muslim population on British society, the contribution it will make to integration and to the fact the government will increase the funding set aside for it.