India to become the country with highest Muslims by…; its population is estimated to be....; Hindu population to decline by...

India to become the country with highest Muslims by…; its population is estimated to be....; Hindu population to decline by...

New Delhi: The world's population is growing at an accelerated rate, leading to significant changes in global demographics. This increase brings both challenges and opportunities for nations, influencing various aspects of society, the economy, and the environment. Meanwhile, Earth is home to a diverse range of religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Sikhism. But did you know India will have the largest Muslim population by 2050? Read this story to know more...

India to become the country with highest Muslims by ; its population is estimated to be....; Hindu population to decline by...

As per a report by the Pew Research Center, India is projected to surpass Indonesia and become the country with the highest Muslim population by 2050, with an estimated 311 million Muslims. In the same report, titled 'The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,' Pakistan is expected to have the second-largest Muslim population, reaching 273 million. Indonesia, which had the largest Muslim population in 2010, is expected to drop to third place with 257 million Muslims by 2050.

The report also highlights that Hindus are expected to become the third-largest religious group globally. By 2050, India will have 310 million Muslims, accounting for 11% of the global Muslim population. Additionally, India is projected to maintain the largest Hindu population, which will grow to 1.03 billion. Currently, Indonesia holds the title for the country with the largest Muslim population.

A study by the Pew Research Center attributes the rising Muslim population primarily to the younger age and higher fertility rate. The average age of Muslims is 22 years, compared to 26 years for Hindus and 28 years for Christians. In India, Muslim women have an average of 3.2 children per woman, while Hindu women have 2.5 children, and Christian women have 2.3 children on average.

Speaking of the report, the global Hindu population is expected to grow from just over 1 billion in 2010 to nearly 1.4 billion by 2050, keeping pace with the overall population increase. Consequently, as a result, Hindus will remain fairly stable as a share of the world's population over the next four decades, at about 15% in both 2010 and 2050.

In 2010, India and Nepal were the only countries where Hindus constituted the majority of the population, and they are anticipated to remain the only Hindu-majority countries in 2050.

In 2010, Hindus were the largest religious group in the Asia-Pacific region. However, by 2050, Muslims are projected to outnumber Hindus in the region. "The annual growth rate of the world's population is expected to decline gradually in the coming decades, falling from 1.1% in 2010-2015 to 0.4% in 2045-2050. The annual growth rate of Hindus is expected to remain roughly on par with world population growth through 2030-2035, after which it is projected to drop below the worldwide level. By 2045, Hindus are expected to be growing by about 0.2% annually, or roughly half as fast as the global population overall, largely as a result of declining fertility rates in India, " reads the report.