Muslims praying (file)
Muslims praying (file)Flash 90

New census figures released Friday by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that one out of every 10 babies and toddlers in England and Wales are born to Muslim families, indicating a rapidly growing and young Muslim demographic.

The data shows a huge increase in the number of Muslims looming on the horizon, as the percentage of babies in Muslim families is double the 4.8% of Muslims in the total population of England and Wales. The Muslim population is young; only 1 in 200 aged over 85 are Muslim.

ONS's survey analyzed figures from 2001 to 2011, revealing an 80% increase in Muslims under 5-years-old over the ten year time span. By 2011, 317,952 Muslim children of that age bracket were in England and Wales.

"It certainly is a startling figure," acknowledged David Coleman, professor of demography at Oxford University, to The Times on Friday. "Continuing immigration from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India has been added to by new immigration from African countries and from the Middle East."

Muslims have the youngest age profile of the major religious groups, according to the new figures. 48% were under the age of 25, a figure corresponding to 1.3 million Muslims. "There seem to be very low levels of falling away from religion among Muslims," noted Coleman.

In 2009 the most popular name for newborn boys in England and Wales was Mohammed, although 12 alternate spellings of the name allowed Oliver to be the official most popular name.

Some members of the growing Muslim population in the UK have been responsible for some very gruesome murders motivated by Islam, such as the brutal public beheading of off-duty soldier Lee Rigby last May.

Other trends among some Muslims in England include recruiting jihadists for the war in Syria, and converting locals to Islam, some of whom go on to conduct wanton violence against "infidel" non-Muslims.

Christianity remains the most common religion among babies in England and Wales, constituting 43.7% of those under 5. An additional 34.1% were listed as having no religion. Only 0.5% were Jewish babies, according to the statistics.

13 infants had their religion listed as "witchcraft," an additional 121 were adherents of "heavy metal," and another 4,700 were followers of the religion "Jedi knight."