Just 2.2 per cent of Australians, or 476,300 people, identified as Islamic in the 2011 census. The actual number is likely to be larger as many people do not state their religion at the Census. estimated 2.4 per cent of Australians were Muslim in 2010.
But while the growth rate of Australia’s Muslim population has outpaced that of our total population, Islam is not the fastest growing religion in Australia. The figures show that Hinduism is the fastest growing religion here, which coincides with the growth in the number of Australians born in India.
The unaffiliated population was concentrated in places with low fertility and ageing populations, such as Europe, North America, China and Japan.
SOURCE: ABS (Article by Jason Thomas SBS) Source: ABS
In contrast Hinduism, which is currently the world's fourth largest religious group, is projected to have flat growth at around 15 per cent between 2010 and 2050.
Islam is said to be the fastest growing religion with the world's population of 1.6 billion Muslims predicted to expand to 2.3 billion by 2050, according to the
Two population growth rates help explain this. The world's Islamic population is expected to grow at a rate of 73 per cent in the 40 years between 2010 and 2050; while the world's Christian population will grow at just 35 per cent during that period, which is roughly in line with the world's total growth rate.
Source: Pew
