Demographic Change in Europe’s Muslim Communities: Implications and Challenges

Abstract

Europe is currently home to an estimated 44 million Muslims, with the number expected to increase to more than 58 million by 2030. The rise in the number of European Muslims, due to fertility and immigration, is causing unease across the European Union: EU leaders argue that multiculturalism has failed while Europe’s far-right parties are winning votes by propagating anti-Islam and anti-foreigner sentiments. Efforts to ensure a better integration of European Muslims are complicated by Europe’s own uncertainty about what it means to be ‘European’, the struggle between religion and secular beliefs and Europe’s unease about its economic future, inlcuding fears about the impact of globalization on European jobs. In such an environment, Muslims, if they espouse conservative values and customs in the public space, are viewed as ‘foreigners’ who can never be truly integrated as fully fledged European citizens. Despite such negatives, however, the picture is not universally gloomy. European Muslims are now more active in demanding basic rights and organizing themselves into pressure groups. Europe needs the talent and abilities of all its citizens and of immigrants to climb out of the current economic downturn. Failure to accept difference and diversity in Europe will foster further fear and unease, sap Europe’s vitality, exacerbate social tensions and erode European influence on the global stage. Therefore, European governments, acting at multiple levels, must start reshaping the nature of the debate on multiculturalism and consider new initiatives to ensure better integration of European Muslims.