List of cities in the European Union by Muslim population
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in Europe, primarily due to immigration. Since the 1960s, 'Gastarbeiter' immigrants from Muslim countries started to appear in numbers in Western Europe, especially in Germany, France and Belgium. Although large Muslim communities existed on the continent long before this, especially in the Balkans, this was the first major wave of immigration of Muslims to northwestern Europe.
Muslims in Europe are not a homogeneous group. They are of various national, ethnic and racial identities. The top countries of origin of Muslims in Western Europe are Pakistan, Turkey and the Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). In 2011 they constituted 25 percent of Rotterdam and Marseilles; 20% of Malmo; 15 percent of Amsterdam, Brussels and Birmingham; 90% of Sarajevo; and 10 percent of London, Paris, Copenhagen, and Vienna.
Muslims in Western Europe originate from both Arab and non-Arab countries. Those in the United Kingdom are primarily from South Asia, in France from North and West Africa, in Germany from Turkey, in Belgium from Morocco, and in the Netherlands from Morocco and Turkey.
Muslims also vary in terms of their religious commitment: some adhere very strictly to the tenets of Islam while others have largely assimilated into secular European culture.
In Western Europe, Muslims generally live in major urban areas, often concentrated in poor neighborhoods of large cities. (Muslims living in the West are also concentrated in urban area. Muslims are currently estimated to compose almost one-fifth of the population of Marseilles, and 15 percent of Paris, Brussels, and Birmingham. Muslims are currently make up approximately 10 percent of the populations in London and Copenhagen.)
According to the Pew Forum, the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2010 was about 44 million (6%). The total number of Muslims in the European Union in 2010 was about 19 million (3.8%). The French capital of Paris and its metropolitan area has the largest number (up to 1.7 million according to The Economist) of Muslims out of any city in the European Union. London also has a substantial community of Muslim origin, numbering about 1 million within the limits of Greater London and exceeding this figure when the entire metropolitan area is taken into account.
If the current rate of migration of Muslims to Europe and the Muslim fertility rate remains constant, by 2030, people of Muslim faith or origin are predicted to form about 10% of the French population and 8% of the European population.
See also
- Islam in Western Europe
- Islam in Austria
- Islam in Belgium
- Islam in Denmark
- Islam in France
- Islam in Germany
- Islam in Ireland
- Islam in Italy
- Islam in the Netherlands
- Islam in Spain
- Islam in Sweden
- Islam in the United Kingdom
