Muslims praying in a mosque. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Muslims are expected to outnumber Jews as the second-largest religious group in the US by 2040, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.

The study found that some 6.7 million Americans, making up 2.1 percent of the total US population, identify as Jews, while 3.45 million people, representing 1.1 percent of the population, identify as Muslims. Pew said its projections for the coming decades “suggest that the US Muslim population will grow much faster than the country’s Jewish population.”

The research center anticipates that the American Jewish population will continue to grow gradually until around 2030, and then start to decline due to low birthrates and assimilation.

Conversely, the US Muslim population is expected to increase rapidly due to high rates of birth and immigration. From 2007-2011, the number of American Muslims grew from 2.35 million to 2.75 million, and that population continues to rise at a rate of about 100,000 per year.

“By 2050, the US Muslim population is projected to reach 8.1 million, or 2.1 percent of the nation’s total population — nearly twice the share of today,” Pew stated.