Indian Muslims: Who Are They c8.s4: Higher Fecundity

c8.s4.1

In the Hindu-Muslim mixed marriages the couple and the progeny invariably became Muslim. This practice formed another important component of growth of Muslim population in India. There is also higher fecundity among Muslims. Kingsley Davis rightly remarks that in six decades (1881-1941) at no census have the Muslims failed to improve their percentage and the Hindus failed to lose It is due not only to the proportion of Muslim women married, but those who are married also have a higher fertility.⁴⁸ Today every seventh man in the world is a Muslim,⁴⁹ and in this great rise of Muslim population their high fertility should have contributed its share. Dudley Kirk, after a detailed study of fertility among various nationalities and religious groups, too, has arrived at the conclusion that birth rate among Muslims is the highest.⁵⁰