Islam in the West: a demographic overview

In this post you will find an overview of Muslims populations in the West in the recent past. The data are still incomplete and the sources aren't always reliable, but that is compensated by combining many different sources into one graph. As a result, the following picture emerges:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Clearly the amount of Muslims in the West is ballooning. And because the native population of Europe is stagnant or in decline, the proportion of Muslims in West European societies is also on the rise.


The bottom line is that if the current demographic parameters (continued mass-immigration, permissive family reunion laws) remain unchanged, there will be an Islamic majority in all Europeans countries somewhere in the future. This majority may come sooner, or it may come later, but ultimately it will be there.

For this reason, it seems inevitable to me for European politicians to take a stand: either they opt for the islamization of their countries and accept the given demographic parameters, or they opt to stay pluralistic, yet predominantly non-Islamic societies and change those parameters.

At the moment, many European politicians reject changing the demographic parameters, which is accepting the "Islamic option". They do so because they are ignorant of the current demographic trends, or because they believe that the Islamization of Europe is not a problem. Mostly, however, these two factors coincide.

Of course, there is another approach to remedy the Islamization of Europe than by revizing immigration policies. This is, just like we did with Communism, to convince the world that Islamism is a failed way of life. Though it would take at least several decades for this global culture war to be won - if it can be won -, it is the only option there is for those who want their children to have a future in the West.

The problem is that most politicians who refuse to change immigration policies also refuse to counter Islamic thought. This is a fatal combination. It means that we will not win the global culture war, and that we will not even win this war on our one territories. For instance, when politicians present the head scarf as a symbol of tolerance, while in fact it is a symbol of religious zeal, the superiority of Islamic thought is acknowledged, not questioned. Therefore, those politicians who seek to replace moral judgements by idle tolerance have nothing to offer us but the demise of our civilizations.

So, please use the information in this blog to inform your politicians about the European demographic situation and make them take a stand. If nobody forces them to do so, they'll keep ignoring the world around them, which is, after all, what politicians love to do most.

Anders Wellebeeke

P.S. You are welcome to make the data more complete. Please leave a reference if you have additional information on the history of the Muslim population in your country. Data from the Seventies and Eighties are especially wanted.


Sources

• 3 Millionen Muslime. Die Tageszeitung. November 9, 2000.

• 9/11 in numbers. Guardian Unlimited. August 22, 2002.

• Centre islamique de Lausanne.
• Demographics of Canada. Wikipedia.

• Der Islam in der Niederlanden. Jan Rath, Thijl Sunier & Astrid Meyer. In: Auernheimer, G. und Bukow, W.D. (Hrsg.): Der Fundamentalismusverdacht, Plädoyer für eine Neuorientierung der Forschung im Umgang mit allochthonen Jugendlichen, Opladen, 1999. 74-84.

• Fakta muslim islam i Sverige og EU.

• How restive are Europe's Muslims? The Economist. October 18, 2001.

• Islam and Muslims in Europe. Islam Awareness Homepage.

• Islam in Canada. Wikipedia.

• Islam in Finland. Wikipedia.

• Islam in Germany. Wikipedia.

• Islam in Switzerland. Switzerlandisyours.com

• Muslim population statistics. The Canadian Society of Muslims.

• Muslime in der Schweiz. Brainworker's Online-Journal & Internetverlag des Wissens.

• Muslims in Europe: Country guide. BBC News. December 23, 2005.

• Muslims In The Netherlands And Belgium. IslamOnline.net. December 29, 2005.

• No war in their name—but no jihad against the West either. The Economist. April 3, 2003.

• Number of Muslims differs considerably per region. Statistics Netherlands. April 26, 2004.
• Population statistics. Jan Lahmeyer.

• Review of 'Islams ansigter. Muslimske retninger i Danmark' by Nils Sandahl. FagbogInfo. November 16, 2004.

• Stoned to death in Europe. Kerfuffles. April 4, 2004.
• West and the Role of the Christian Church. Matthew Geijels. Renaissance.com.

• Western Europe: Muslim Population Circa 2000. The Islam Project.
• Wie wird der Islam in 2030 in Deutschland aussehen? Hanny Jung. August 22, 2006.

• Young, Muslim, and French. Wide Anlge. August 23, 2004.