Muslims in the West: A demographic perspective

This seminar focuses on the status of Muslims in Western societies from a demographic perspective. The population of Muslims in the West has grown rapidly and has received increasingly significant attention in contemporary literature. This mainly lies in the substantial demographic dynamics of Muslims in the West, which has been termed as a demographic time bomb in some existing literature (Michaels 2009). For example, Islam has become the second largest religion in Europe in terms of the adherents' population. Muslims are also the second and third largest religious minority in Australia and New Zealand respectively. Further, the phenomenon of re-Islamization has emerged in the USA (Haddad 2007). The increasing attention to Muslims in the contemporary literature is also partly associated with such events as the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA and the 7/7 terrorist attacks in the UK. Using a global approach, this seminar addresses the key demographic characteristics of Muslims in contemporary Western societies