The prime minister of Czech has written an article highly critical of immigration and tied his rival Pirate Party to increased immigration to Czechia.
In the article, he makes a number of predictions about when certain European countries will feature a majority Muslim population.
“According to some calculations, the Netherlands will be a Muslim-majority country in 2044, and Sweden will follow in 2065. Unfortunately, these are just facts,” wrote Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in an article published by the Czech daily Právo. Babiš does not cite the studies he is referring to.
“This is very clear to me. I will never allow something similar to happen in the Czech Republic,” continued Babiš, referring to the prediction about the Netherlands and Sweden.
While ethnic Swedes becoming a minority in their country over the next 45 years was also the conclusion of a recent academic survey reported by Remix News, there is less evidence that Muslims would become a majority.
Pew Research, for example, indicates that the Muslim population of Europe could triple to 75 million by 2050, and in Sweden, Muslims could account for 30 percent of the population and in the Netherlands, 15 percent.
The business of demographic predictions is a tricky one, yet there are clear trends present which show that the Muslim population of Western Europe is growing while native populations are dropping. Babiš may ultimately be inaccurate given the timeline of such shifts, but the data shows that seismic demographic changes are occurring in European society.
Babiš’ article has drawn criticism from some academics in Czechia.
“It’s completely wrong. He wants to scare people. A year ago, he said that Belgium would be a Muslim-majority country in 2040,” said Daniel Prokop, sociologist and researcher at Charles University in Prague, Czech.
“I do not want to play down problems that can be linked to migration. But this is absurd. His forecasts are extremely exaggerated,” said Prokop.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
