Switzerland: How many Muslims are there?

Switzerland: How many Muslims are there?

This might be nitpicking, but as I've followed articles on the Swiss minaret ban, I've noticed the number of Muslims fluctuating.


Before the final results:

Muslims make up about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people. Many Swiss Muslims are refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Fewer than 13 percent practice their religion, the government says, and Swiss mosques do not broadcast the call to prayer outside their buildings.


After the final results:

Supporters of the ban said the number of Muslims in Switzerland had grown sharply from 50,000 in 1980, but it is still only 4 percent of the 7.5 million population, many of whom don't practice. Western Europe has an estimated 14 million Muslims.


According to the AP, it took a day for a third of Swiss Muslims to disappear. Either that, or the AP is using whichever demographics are more convenient to make the point ('Muslims are integral to Switzerland' vs. 'there's barely any Muslims around').