Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world, with 23 percent of the global population, and will take over Christianity as the top religion by the end of the century, according to the Pew Research Center.

A review of Muslims by the nonpartisan organization also found that Muslims comprise a growing share of the immigrants granted permanent residency in the United States each year. Their share doubled from 5 percent of the annual permanent residency flow in 1992 to 10 percent in 2012, representing 100,000 Muslim immigrants granted permanent residency in the U.S. each year.

Pew also found that Muslim immigrants prefer more government services and that 70 percent lean Democratic. Just 11 percent identify with Republicans.



Key elements pulled from the analysis:

— There were 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as of 2010 – roughly 23% of the global population – according to a Pew Research Center estimate. But while Islam is currently the world's second-largest religion (after Christianity), it is the fastest-growing major religion. Indeed, if current demographic trends continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians by the end of this century.

— Our demographic projections estimate that Muslims will make up 2.1% of the U.S. population by the year 2050, surpassing people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion as the second-largest faith group in the country (not including people who say they have no religion).

— A recent Pew Research Center report estimated that the Muslim share of immigrants granted permanent residency status (green cards) increased from about 5% in 1992 to roughly 10% in 2012, representing about 100,000 immigrants in that year.

— Muslims are far more likely to identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party (70%) than the Republican Party (11%) and to say they prefer a bigger government providing more services (68%) over a smaller government providing fewer services (21%).

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.