Muslim Life in Germany - Deutsche Islam Konferenz

How many Muslims live in Germany? 87
Table 8: Share of German and foreign citizens in the 2007 microcensus
and in the Muslim Life in Germany study 2008 in comparison
(in per cent)
Persons
with a
migrant
background
2007 micro-census (in per cent) MLG 2008 (in per cent)
Persons
without
nationality
specification*
Foreign
nationals
German
nationals
Foreign
nationals
(mean value)
German
nationals
(mean value)
Total 0,0 47,2 52,8 41,6 58,4
Turkey 5,1 73,6 21,3 54,4 45,6
Source: Federal Statistical Office 2008b: 176 ff. and MLG 2008, dataset covering all
household members, unweighted
* Calculated from the difference between the foreign and German persons from
the corresponding country of origin and the total number of persons with a more
narrowly defined migrant background.
Table 8 shows that the share of Germans with a migrant
background as determined by the Muslim Life in Germany
study is higher than the share determined by the microcensus.
With regard to the extrapolation it is to be noted that an overstated
share of Germans with a migrant background vis-à-vis
the total population leads to an overestimation of the number
of Germans with a migrant background for the corresponding
country of origin. This also means that the number of German
Muslims for the corresponding country, and therefore the total
number of Muslims, is overestimated. An overestimation of the
number of Germans with Turkish origin also implies an overestimation
of the total number of Muslims, as this is a very large
group of origin that accounts for a large share of Muslims.
One possible cause of the discrepancies between the
Muslim Life in Germany study and the microcensus with regard
to Germans with a migrant background in specific groups of