Islam is Manchester’s fastest growing religion and is expanding at more than double the rate of Christianity, the Mancunian Matters website has claimed.
University of Manchester data analysed by the local news website revealed that Islam is out-growing every other religion in the city.
According to the data 12.5% of those identifying themselves as Muslim in the 2011 census were aged between 0-4. This is more than double the 5.6% of Christians aged 0-4 and significantly larger those of no religion at 6.8%
Ludi Simpson, Professor of population studies at the University of Manchester, told Mancunian Matters: “Immigrants tend to be young adults and have children in the few years after they come to Britain, but don’t get old enough to die at the same rate for many decades.”
Dr Hassan Alkatib, director Manchester Islamic Centre, told Mancunian Matters that Muslims tend to bring up children within the religion which can differ from modern European ways of bringing up kids.
“The size of Muslim families in general is double that of the European family and we have waves of Muslim immigrants coming to the UK.”
According to Dr Alkatib the prospects available to immigrants in Manchester mean that the trend of rapid growth for Islam will continue.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
“Islam has a positive message and I think there is a duty on Muslims to promote the message which helps the religion to grow. There are more job opportunities in Manchester just like in London which makes it an appealing place to go to. I think because of this the trend will continue.”
