25% of The World is Muslim, with Most of Them Located in Asia

A new study recently released by the Pew Foundation that aims to map the world’s Muslim populace has discovered some interesting data.  They found that there are nearly 1.57 billion Muslims worldwide, with nearly two thirds of these Muslims residing in Asia.  This represents roughly 23% of the total world population.

With so much focus on the Muslims in the Middle East, this study should shine a light on the fact that if the United States wants to improve relations with the Muslim world, it’s focus should be in South Asia and that it should not concentrate solely in the Middle East.

Some facts found by the study are interesting:

-         The top three countries with the most Muslims are Indonesia with about 203 million Muslims, Pakistan   with about 174 million Muslims, and finally India, with about 161 million Muslims. 

-         One in every five Muslims lives in a place where Muslims are considered to be the minority.

-         Russia, Albania, and Kosovo have indigenous Muslim populations.

-         Sub-saharan Africa comprises only 15% of all Muslims, with the number set at about 240 million.

-         Nigeria is half Muslim, the sixth most populous Muslim country in the world.

-         There are likewise some countries that are not seen as Muslim, but in fact have high populations of   Muslims, these countries being India Russia and China.

Hopefully all this information, added to present information can shed a light on the state of world religions.  The Pew Foundation says that this is just the beginning, and that they plan on doing studies on other religions as well, such as Christianity.  At this point, the next step that they wish to take is to project possible increase in the Muslim population over the coming years.