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Rabat – A new report by Pew Research Center has identified the US and Kenya as the two countries that have recorded the majority of conversions to Islam.
The center assessed religious switching into and out of Islam among 13 countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, and Tunisia in Africa.
Other countries assessed in the report include Turkiye, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Israel, and Sri Lanka.
According to the data, the US recorded a 20% of Islam accession, while Kenya registered an 11% level of entrance to the religion.
The report notably shows that in the US, one-fifth of Muslim Americans were raised outside of Islam. Most of them say they were raised as Christians.
The report points to the same trend in Kenya, where most of the religious switching to Islam was done by converts who were raised as Christians.
Despite the increase, Islam remains a minority in both countries, as little as 1% of US adults identify themselves as Muslims.
Meanwhile, 11% of Kenyans identify themselves as Muslims.
According to the report, a sizable number of those who switched to Islam said they were raised Christian.
It further indicated that large majorities of people who identify as Muslims said they were raised as Muslims in other countries.
As for those who left Islam in all the assessed countries, fewer than a quarter of adults who were Muslims said they are no longer following the religion.
“Most who have left Islam either no longer identify with any religion,” the report said, stressing that those who left Islam identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing, or identify as Christian.
As for the report’s assessment on large net gains or losses from religious switching vis-a-vis Islam, Pew Research Institute suggests that 3% or fewer of all adults have left or entered Islam in all of the 13 countries assessed as part of the new research.
This resulted in “very little change between childhood and current religion from religion switching,” the report said, citing Indonesia as one of the case studies where the share of adults who identify as Muslim is equal to the share who say they were raised Muslims by 93%.
“Fewer than 1% of all adults surveyed in Indonesia say they have left or entered Islam.”
Indonesia remains the top country where Islam is the largest religion in Indonesia with over 87% of the population identifying as Muslims.
The data from Pew Research Institute also assessed the percentage of people raised Muslim who still hold on to the same religion, noting that all adults who have been surveyed say they were raised Muslim and still identify as such today.
“Except in the U.S., the survey does not show much variation in Muslim retention rates. In most places, upward of 90% of people raised as Muslims have remained as Muslims as adults,” the report shows.
Of those who reported leaving Islam in the US, 13% said they do not identify with any other religion, while 6% said they now identify as Christians.
Kenya and Ghana have seen the same trends, according to the report, detailing that 8% and 6% of those who left Islam in the two African countries, respectively, now consider themselves Christians.
Overall, Pew Research Institute’s analysis confirms a trend that has been in place for much of the past decade: Islam remains the fastest-growing religion. While Muslims rarely leave their religion, it continues to attract many new converts each year.
