JERUSALEM, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- One quarter of Israel's youth population below the age of 14, 450,000 children, are Muslim, the country's Bureau of Statistics announced Sunday.
Israel's total Muslim population reached 1.7 million, 16 percent of the overall population, at the beginning of 2004, the Ha'aretz News Service reported.
According to the CBS, the Arab sector's growth rate over several years stands at 3.4 percent, 2.4 times larger than the Jewish sector's growth rate, which stands at 1.4 percent. The growth rate among Israel's Muslim population is one of the highest in the world, including the rates of neighboring Arab states, Ha'aretz said.
The statistics also showed only three percent of Israel's Muslim population is over the age of 65, while 12 percent of the Jewish population is older than 65.
According to the government bureau's population forecast, Muslims will make up 20 percent of Israel's population by 2020.
