The future of Europe

 

Muslims in European countries

 

As of 2024, the percentage of Muslims in European countries varies significantly by nation. Here are some approximate figures for selected countries, based on recent estimates and projections:

Western Europe:

1. France: ~10% (largest Muslim population in Europe)

2. Germany: ~6.6% - 7%

3. United Kingdom: ~6.7%

4. Netherlands: ~5% - 6%

5. Belgium: ~7.5%

6. Sweden: ~8% - 8.5%

7. Switzerland: ~6%

8. Austria: ~8%

9. Denmark: ~5.5%

10. Norway: ~3.7%

11. Italy: ~4.5% - 5%

12. Spain: ~4%

Eastern & Southern Europe:

13. Albania: ~60% (majority Muslim)

14. Bosnia and Herzegovina: ~50%

15. Kosovo: ~95%

16. North Macedonia: ~33%

17. Bulgaria: ~10% - 12%

18. Montenegro: ~19%

19. Serbia: ~3.5%

20. Greece: ~2% - 3%

21. Russia: ~10% - 15% (mostly in regions like Chechnya, Dagestan, Tatarstan)

22. Turkey (European part): ~90%+

Other Notable Countries:

23. Finland: ~2.5%

24. Portugal: ~1%

25. Ireland: ~1.5% - 2%

26. Poland: <0.1% (very small Muslim minority)

27. Hungary: ~0.5%

Trends:

• The Muslim population in Europe has been growing due to immigration, higher birth rates, and conversions.

• Countries like Sweden, France, and Germany have seen notable increases.

• Eastern Europe (except Russia and the Balkans) generally has smaller Muslim populations.

Muhammad foi o nome mais comum para recém-nascidos em 2024, em Inglaterra e País de Gales

 

De acordo com dados divulgados pelo Office for National Statistics (ONS) em dezembro de 2024, os nomes mais populares para recém-nascidos em Inglaterra e País de Gales em 2023 foram:​

Meninos:

1. Muhammad – 4.661 registos

2. Noah – 4.382 registos​

3. Oliver – 3.556 registos​

4. George – 3.494 registos

5. Leo – 3.416 registos​

 

Em 2023, filhos de estrangeiros nascidos em Portugal foi de 21,9 % do total

Em Portugal, o índice sintético de fecundidade tem apresentado um aumento nos últimos anos, passando de 1,35 filhos por mulher em 2021 para 1,44 em 2023. As mulheres estrangeiras têm contribuído significativamente para este crescimento. Em 2023, os nascimentos de mães estrangeiras aumentaram 33,8% em relação a 2022, representando 21,9% do total de nascimentos no país. ​

Especificamente, dados de 2024 indicam que o número médio de filhos por mulher é de 1,42 para mulheres portuguesas e 1,97 para mulheres estrangeiras. Este diferencial sugere que, em média, casais imigrantes em Portugal têm mais filhos do que os casais portugueses.

 

Número de imigrantes da Índia, Paquistão e Bangladesh em Portugal

 

Em 2023, as autoridades portuguesas registaram 17.148 cidadãos paquistaneses residentes em Portugal, com 6.869 autorizações de residência concedidas nesse ano. No entanto, estimativas da Embaixada do Paquistão apontam para uma comunidade de cerca de 30.000 indivíduos.  

Esta discrepância pode dever-se a diferenças nos critérios de contabilização ou à presença de indivíduos em processo de regularização. Embora não existam dados específicos disponíveis para 2024, a tendência sugere um crescimento contínuo da comunidade paquistanesa em Portugal.

Observa-se uma tendência crescente na imigração indiana para Portugal nos últimos anos. Em 2022, o número de cidadãos indianos residentes era de 34.232, indicando um aumento de aproximadamente 10.000 indivíduos em um ano. 

Porém, estimativas do Ministério de Relações Exteriores da Índia apontam para uma comunidade indiana em Portugal entre 104.000 e 120.000 indivíduos. Esta discrepância pode dever-se a diferenças nos critérios de contabilização, incluindo cidadãos naturalizados, estudantes e indivíduos em processo de regularização.​

Embora não existam dados específicos disponíveis para 2024, a tendência observada sugere um crescimento contínuo da comunidade indiana em Portugal

Em 2024, estimativas apontam para a presença de aproximadamente 70 mil imigrantes do Bangladesh em Portugal, incluindo tanto indivíduos com situação regularizada quanto aqueles em processo de regularização. ​

Além disso, dados de 2024 indicam que mais de 25 mil imigrantes do Bangladesh adquiriram nacionalidade portuguesa, e cerca de 50 mil são contribuintes ativos no país.

 

 

 

Portugal: Residentes estrangeiros duplicam em 10 anos

 

Em 2022, residiam no país 798.480 cidadãos estrangeiros, representando 7,6% da população total. Este número é o dobro do registado há uma década, evidenciando uma tendência crescente na imigração. ​

O fluxo migratório tem variado ao longo dos anos. Entre 2010 e 2015, observou-se uma diminuição no número de imigrantes. Contudo, desde 2015, a imigração aumentou significativamente. Por exemplo, entre 2018 e 2019, o crescimento foi superior a 110 mil estrangeiros.

Em 2022, registou-se a entrada de 118 mil imigrantes em Portugal. Este aumento contribuiu para um saldo migratório positivo, com a imigração a superar consistentemente a emigração desde 2019.

How much UK spends with migrants?

In the 2023/24 financial year, the UK Home Office spent a record £5.38 billion on asylum support, marking a 36% increase from the previous year. This expenditure primarily covered accommodation and support for asylum seekers, with a significant portion allocated to housing in hotels due to a shortage of alternative accommodations (…)  It's important to note that this figure specifically pertains to asylum support and does not encompass other migration-related costs, such as border enforcement or visa processing.

 

Finland: Teaching migrants how to behave

 

Migrants arriving in Finland are being offered classes on Finnish values and how to behave towards women. Concerned about a rise in the number of sexual assaults in the country, the government wants to make sure that people from very conservative cultures know what to expect in their new home.

Johanna is one of those energetic, animated teachers whose cheerful energy lures even the most reluctant pupil into engaging with the lesson. She uses both her hands to stress her meaning and she always softens any difficult points with a smile.

"So in Finland," she says softly, "you can't buy a wife. A woman will only be your wife if she wants to be - because here women are men's equals."

Her pupils, all recently arrived asylum seekers at this reception centre hidden away in the snowy depths of the Finnish forest, watch her carefully - and I watch them. Some of the young Iraqi men, who already speak good English and passable Finnish, nod sagely. 

Others, particularly the older men, stare at one another with raised eyebrows as Johanna's words are translated into Arabic for them. One man, hunkered down inside his black ski jacket seems to be taking notes while there's a faint smile on the lips of the only headscarfed young woman in the room.

"But you can go out to the disco with a woman here," adds Johanna brightly. "Although remember, even if she dances with you very closely and is wearing a short skirt, that doesn't mean she wants to have sex with you."

A Somali teenager pulls his woolly hat over his ears and cradles his head in his hands as if his brain can't cope with all this new information.

"This is a very liberal country," he says incredulously. "We have a lot to learn. In my country if you make sexy with a woman you are killed!" He turns to his neighbour, a Malian man of a similar age to gauge his reaction.

"It's quite amazing," the Malian nods. "In my country a woman should not go out without her husband or brother."

ohanna turns her attention to homosexuality and the Iraqi men on the back row - it's always the back row - begin to giggle and snigger.

It might seem like a bit of a pantomime, but reception centres in Finland take these voluntary manners and culture classes extremely seriously. If men arriving from very different and conservative cultures are not immediately made aware that Finland has its own set of customs and rules which must be respected, then they will never integrate, warns Johanna.

The men may groan when she tells them that Finnish men share the housework, but they no longer baulk when they see their taxi driver is a woman. Since the autumn, when Johanna first started giving these classes, female asylum seekers frequently approach her to complain that their husbands are not treating them in the Finnish way. The men are also versed in Finnish criminal law so they know exactly what to expect if they touch a woman inappropriately.

And that's why these classes are backed by the interior ministry and the police. Last autumn three asylum seekers were convicted of rape in Finland, and at the new year there were a series of sexual assaults and harassments similar to those in Cologne and Stockholm. Victims reported that the perpetrators were of Middle Eastern appearance - something Helsinki's deputy chief of police, Ilkka Koskimaki decided to go public with.

"It's difficult to talk about," he admits as we drive in a patrol car through the icy streets of the city. "But we have to tell the truth. Usually we would not reveal the ethnic background of a suspect, but these incidents, where groups of young foreign men," as he puts it, "surround a girl in a public place and harass her have become a phenomenon."

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