One-fifth of European Union will be Muslim by 2050

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1106286.html

Last update - 22:14 09/08/2009

By Haaretz Service

Tags: Telegraph, European Union

One in every five people in the European Union will be Muslim by 2050, according to forecasts published in Britain's Telegraph newspaper on Sunday.

The same forecasts found that the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands will have an even higher proportion of Muslims in a shorter amount of time, according to the report.

The numbers show a significant rise in the proportion of Muslims, who in 2008 made up around five per cent of the total population of the 27 EU member states.

The Telegraph report cited rising levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among the existing European population as contributing to the shift in demographics.

The U.K. is also predicted to overtake Germany as the EU's most populous country by 2060, with a projected population of 77 million people.