WASHINGTON, Dec 15: A US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday shows that the Muslim population in Britain has jumped in seven years from 1.6 million to 2 million.

At that rate of increase, the British government estimates that the Muslim population in the country at the next census in 2011will be over 2.2 million, says the cable sent to Washington on Dec. 30, 2008 by Rick Mills, a political counsellor at the US Embassy in London.

The cable also includes a report by the NGO Migration Watch UK, which favours restrictions on immigration. The NGO estimated in 2008 that the real number of Muslims in the UK was closer to 3 million which would be 5 per cent of the UK population.

The majority came from Pakistan, followed by Bangladesh and India.

The British government estimates that there are about 1,000 mosques in Britain.

On May 8, 2008, a UK think-tank Religious Trends reported that more than 50 per cent of Muslims regularly worship at mosques.

The report noted that while 43 million UK residents claimed to be Christians, less than 3 million (7 per cent) regularly worship in churches.

Based on government figures, a 3.3 per cent increase in the Muslim population translated to increase of 400,000 in seven years. Seventy-four per cent of Muslims are from an Asian ethnic background (Pakistani – 43 per cent, Bangladeshi —16 per cent, Indian — 8 per cent, Other Asian — 6 per cent). Almost 1.2 million Asian Muslims were living in Great Britain in 2001.

Another 11 per cent were from a White ethnic background, including 4 per cent of White British origin and 7 per cent from another White background (including Turkish, Cypriot, Arab and Eastern European).

Six per cent Muslims were of Black African origin, mainly from North and West Africa. The 1951 census showed a population of Muslims of less than 22,000. Therefore between 1951 and 2001 (50 years) there had been an annualized increase of 31,500 Muslims in the UK, but in the seven year period between 2001 and 2008 there was an actual annualised increase of 57,000.

The rate of increase as measured by decades has slowed, however. In 1961, the population of Muslims in the UK was 2.5 times what it had been in 1951. Between 1961 and 1971 the Muslim population multiplied an astonishing five times its previous population.

Thereafter the Muslim population's rate of growth began to slow. In 1981 it was only 2.4 times the 1971 population. In 1991 it was only 1.7 times what it had been in 1981; and between 1991 and 2001 it only grew by 1.6 times the previous population.

Based on a projected 2011 population of 2.2 million, the rate of increase between 2001 and 2011 is estimated to be 1.4 times the 2001 figure.

In overall numbers, the UK Muslim population is rapidly increasing, but its rate of growth is slowly decreasing.