The rapid growth in Muslim population due to their high fertility rate as compared to all other religious groups is changing religious demography across the world and India is no exception to this. Illegal migration of Muslims from across expedites this process further.

According to a Pew Research Center Study that measured how “the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020", Muslims were the fastest-growing religious group over the decade. The number of Muslims increased by 347 million – more than all other religions combined. The share of the world’s population that is Muslim rose by 1.8 points, to 25.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Hindus grew at about the same rate as the world’s overall population. The number of Hindus rose by 126 million, reaching 1.2 billion. As a proportion of the global population, Hindus held steady at 14.9 per cent.

According to the study, “Christians remained the world’s biggest religious group. But Christians (of all denominations, counted as one group) did not keep pace with global population growth from 2010 to 2020.The number of Christians rose by 122 million, reaching 2.3 billion. Yet, as a share of the world’s population, Christians fell 1.8 percentage points, to 28.8 per cent."

In a notable 2019 study, Pierre Rostan and Alexandra Rostan projected that within the next two centuries, 13 European nations could see Muslims forming the majority of their populations. These countries include Cyprus, Sweden, France, Greece, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ireland, and Lithuania.

However, considering the continuing surge in Muslim immigration to Europe and their relatively higher fertility rates, this demographic shift could occur much sooner than anticipated.

“The higher the proportion of Muslims in a country, the faster the social transformation," the study observed — citing visible changes such as the construction of mosques, public calls to prayer, open-air worship, the widespread availability of halal food in supermarkets, and adjustments in work schedules to accommodate Ramadan observances.

According to a working paper “Share of Religious Minorities: A Cross-Country Analysis (1950-2015)" prepared by Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council in May 2024, the share of the majority Hindu population in........

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