The growth of Islam today

Based on the percentages published in the 2003 CIA factbook, Islam is the second largest religion in the world. According to the World Network of Religious Futurists (http://www.wnrf.org/news/trends.html), the U.S. Center for World Mission (http://www.religioustolerance.org/growth_isl_chr.htm), and the controversial Samuel Huntington, Islam is growing faster numerically than any other religion; this growth is attributed to a higher birth rate, and a higher rate of conversion than other religions. In the U.S., more people convert to Islam than any other faith, especially amongst African Americans.

The religion of Islam brought by the Prophet Muhammad began in the Hejaz region of present-day Saudi Arabia in about 610, and now comprises 1.45 billion believers, 22.82\% of the world's population. However, only 18\% of Muslims live in the Arab world; a fifth is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 30\% in the Indian subcontinental region of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and the world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. There are also significant Islamic populations in China, Europe (especially in the Mediterranean countries), Central Asia, and Russia. There are approximately 5 million Muslims in North America. The world population is growing at about 1.10% per year, but the percentage of Muslim population is increasing by 1.4% per year, mostly due to higher birth rate of African and Asian countries. If this is simply extrapolated, Islam may reach 2 billion adherents in 2020; it will not overtake Christianity before the 2030s, however, but since world population is projected to curb before that time, this estimate is unreliable. Birth rates in many Muslim countries have begun to decline, although more slowly than in other nations, which also may be a factor.