India: The country with the largest Muslim population by 2050

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India | 31 March 2017

Using statistics from Pew Forum (an American research center), the Indian Express reported on 3 March 2017 that India has been projected to have the largest Muslim population by 2050. Currently, Indonesia has the largest Muslim population. According to Pew, there will be an estimated 311 million Muslims in India by 2050. The Muslim population is estimated to rise from 14.4% in 2010 to 18.4% of the total population in 2050. The research also indicates that India will continue to house the largest number of Hindus in the world, with their share of the Indian population rising to an estimated 1.3 billion (76.7% of the total population in 2050). ‚ Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, believes that such statistics will surprise many who think that the main body of Islam lies in the Middle East. He points out: "Even today, with numbers close to 173 million, India has more Muslims than the entire Arab Middle East. This news will no doubt irritate Hindu radicals and it is likely to lead to more attacks against Muslims. Tensions will increase and violence seems set to rise (as‚ in the Uttar Pradesh‚ train bombing on 7 March 2017)." Rolf Zeegers adds: "Growing intolerance will have its effect on Christians as well. They are likely to be caught in the crossfire, even when they are not being directly attacked themselves."