Number of Muslims in Europe

Submitted by KW (Denmark), Nov 19, 2006 at 01:20

John R wrote:

"How many Muslims, in percentage terms out of the entire European population, are there in Europe?"

I've had difficulty finding reliable figures, but some estimates indicate Muslims are about 3% of the population in the European Union, which compares to perhaps 1.5% of the American population, so the difference is not enormous. However, Muslims tend to stay together in Europe, so there are certain neighbourhoods that are almost entirely Muslim.

There are individual countries in Europe where the situation is much worse than this. In Holland, for example, Muslims are at least 5%, and in France 7-10%. The very high percentage of Muslims in France comes from the long-standing idea of France as a civic state (like the USA), rather than an ethnic nation-state, together with France's historical colonial links to Algeria and North Africa.

The previous (centre-left) German government made the situation in Germany worse, by changing citizenship laws to allow descendants of Turkish guest workers living in Germany to become citizens, when they were always expected to go home. The reason was self-serving, of course, as those who gain citizenship will almost certainly vote for the left. Even so, Germany remains in a much better position than France, and probably a better position than the UK, where multiculturalism has taken hold. The Danish example, however, is probably the best one to follow, and may have even turned the tide in Denmark.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".