UK: Muslim Birthrates Skyrocket, One In Ten Children Under Five Are Muslim, Up 80% Over Last Decade

From the AFP:

London (AFP) – Almost one in 10 babies and toddlers in England and Wales are Muslim, according to new analysis of census figures published Friday, illustrating the growth of the minority community. 

Some 317,952 children aged under five, or 9.1 percent, were registered as being Muslim in the 2011 census, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show. 

As a measure of how the religious demographics of England and Wales are changing, the figure is nearly double the 4.8 percent of the whole population who are Muslim, while fewer than one in 200 people aged over 85 are Muslim. 

It is also an 80 percent increase on the 176,264 Muslim under-fives recorded in the 2001 census. “It certainly is a startling figure,” David Coleman, professor of demography at Oxford University, told The Times newspaper on Friday. 

“Continuing immigration from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India has been added to by new immigration from African countries and from the Middle East.