Pew research on Muslim: The changes in Europe’s religious population between 2010 and 2020 are not only statistically important, but also affect social and politics. According to the report of the Pew Research Center, within this decade, the total population of Christians declined from 9 per cent to 505 million, while the number of Jews also declined by 8 per cent to 1.3 million. In contrast, an increase in the population of almost every other major religious group was recorded. During this time, the number of religiously unrelated people has increased by 37 percent, which is 19 crores. Muslims have increased 16 percent, which is close to about 4 crore 60 lakhs. At the same time, the number of Hindus has increased by 20 lakhs, which is close to 30 percent.
This change was not only numerical, but also in population share. The share of Christians has come down from 75 per cent to 67 per cent. It has declined by 8 per cent, while the share of dismal has increased from 18 per cent to 25 per cent, which shows an increase of 7 per cent. The biggest reason for this change is the increase in religious dislikes. The main reason for young generations to distance away from religious institutions, desire for spiritual freedom and secular political thinking is the main reason for this.
Immigration and increase in Muslim population
Between 2010 and 2020, refugee immigration in Europe from Muslim -dominated countries such as Syria became the focal point of social discussion. The share of Muslims increased by about 1 percent in total Europe, which is now 6 percent. The Muslim population in Sweden increased from 4 per cent to 8 per cent, which is doubled in the earlier match. In Albania, where there was already a Muslim majority, it has increased by 4 percent. Germany has increased by 1 percent, which is 7 percent. The reason for this increase is not only immigration, but also government refugee policies of some countries, such as Sweden’s liberal policy or a welcome attitude of Angela Merkel in Germany.
Religious dislikes became the new identity of Europe?
As the distance of people from traditional religious institutions is increasing, so is a sharp jump in the number of religious people. The Christian population in the UK declined by 13 per cent, while unconnected by 11 per cent. Now this figure has reached 40 percent. The number of people unrelated in Estonia has increased by 12 percent, which has now increased to 44 percent. It is clear from these figures that a large population of Europe no longer wants to keep itself in any religious category. It is a sign of inclination towards secularism, individual freedom and institutional religion.
Geographical change in religious power balance
Overall, there are 23 such countries in Europe, where the share of some religious group changed 5 percent or more. Every change of these shows the declining percentage of Christians. Christians are no longer the majority of France and the UK. The Netherlands and the Czech Republic have now become unrelated majority countries. These facts show that the religious map of Europe is changing very fast. The traditional image of Christian Europe is now becoming history.
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