Islam will become the world's largest religion this century

As the fastest growing religion, Islam will also be the largest in the world by 2070, according to a new report by U.S.-based Pew Research Center.

Islam is the only major religious group projected to increase faster than the world's overall population. Currently, the center estimates that the number of Muslims will increase by 73 percent when comparing data from 2010 to projections for 2050.

Comparatively, the world's Christian population, which is currently the world's largest religious group, will increase by only 35 percent in the same time period.

As of 2010, there were an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world compared to 2.2 billion Christians. The world's total population is estimated to be just under 7.5 billion and is projected to grow by 37 percent by 2050.

Overall, the world is projected to become more religious, with the atheist, agnostic and non-religious population declining from 16.4 percent of the world's population to 13.2 percent by 2050.

A lot of it has to do with birth rates. Globally, the average woman gives birth to about 2.3 children. Christian women give birth to 2.7 children and Muslim women, on average, give birth to 3.1.

Additionally, Muslims around the world are generally young. As of 2010, the median age of all Muslims was 23. This is seven years younger than the median age of non-Muslims.

The combination of a young population combined with relatively high fertility rates will lead to the rapid increase in the global Muslim population.

People generally think of the Middle East and North Africa when Islam is mentioned. But, in reality, most of the world's Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region.

Only about 20 percent of the world's Muslims reside in MENA, with 62 percent residing in the Asia-Pacific. Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh all have large Muslim populations. In fact, Indonesia alone is home to more than 12 percent of the world's Muslims.

Many African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania also have large Muslim populations.

While right-wing Western leaders have raised alarm bells at the influx of Muslim immigrants, Muslims are only projected to account for 10 percent of Europe's population by 2050. Muslims currently make up roughly 1 percent of the population in the U.S., with approximately 3.3 million.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted this year found that Americans actually are starting to feel "warmer" towards Muslims. 

The survey found that respondents gave Muslims an average of 48 on a “feeling thermometer” from 0 to 100, where 0 reflects the coldest, most negative possible rating and 100 the warmest, most positive rating.

Although this still seems quite low, its actually a significant increase from when a similar survey was done in 2014. Americans then gave Muslims an average rating of 40, eight points lower than the 2017 survey.

In Europe, perceptions of Muslims vary significantly from country to country, with the most negative sentiments arising in Eastern Europe. But negative sentiments are also on the rise in countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. 

Hate crimes and anti-Muslim hate groups are increasing in the U.S. as well. With the election of President Donald Trump, White supremacists and anti-Muslim groups have felt empowered and have become more aggressive.

With xenophobic rhetoric and an attempt to ban immigrants and refugees from several Muslim majority countries, Trump has fanned the flames of Islamophobia in the U.S.