Why the world’s Muslim population is growing so very, very quickly

Bad government institutions combined with growing desertification due to global warming mean youth here will grow up with few opportunities. They’ll likely respond to this in myriad ways. Some might try to immigrate to wealthier countries; others may lower their expectations for life and try to make what they can of it, others will join up with the army or terrorist or guerrilla groups. But these countries’ young people will — by and large — have pretty bad options, and many won’t accept them sitting down.

So, at a time when headlines are filled with stories of young Muslim men fighting each other, one reason why it’s helpful to consider the population structure of the Muslim world is that doing so helps to emphasize the “young man” aspect of the instability rather than the “Muslim” aspect. After all, just because Islam is the primary form of political expression for youth frustration in the Middle East and North Africa doesn’t make it the primary cause of the violence. Young people with few opportunities explains a lot of it.