August 10, 2009 - 16:24 AMT
Each 5th inhabitant of Europe will be a Muslim by 2050
By 2050, each 5th inhabitant of Europe will be a Muslim, experts of US Migration Policy Institute find.

Muslim population in European states currently makes up 5%. By 2050, that number will increase to 20%, with Great Britain, Spain and Netherlands having more than 20% of Muslims residing in their countries.

Such predictions are accounted for by low birth rate among the native in EU member states vs. the high birth rate in the families of Muslim emigrants

Besides, according to recent estimations, around 2 million people annually arrive in EU member states for obtaining right to permanent residence, with most of them being from Muslim countries.

The new problem is characterized by specialists as "demographic time bomb," The Daily Mail British newspaper reports.