Mich. Has Largest U.S. Muslim Population

Michigan has the second-largest Arab community outside the Middle East, after Paris. About 300,000 people of Arab descent live in southeast Michigan, including significant numbers of Iraqi, Lebanese, Yemeni, and Palestinian Americans. Almost two-thirds of the population were born in the United States, and 40 percent of those born outside of the country have moved here since 1980, according to data from the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) Web site,<www.accesscommunity.org>, and the Detroit News.

Two-thirds of Arab Americans in the United States speak fluent English, and three-quarters use Arabic language media to keep informed. More than 90 percent of Arab Americans have close friends or family in the Middle East, and almost 65 percent have traveled there.

Demographers estimate that more than 8 million Muslims live in the United States, making them the second-largest religious community in the country. About half of Arab Americans are Muslim, while the other half identify themselves as Christian. In the past few decades, Islam has become the fastest-growing religion in the United States.