Muslims more willing to help refugees than Christians: Survey

Muslims living in Germany were about twice as likely to help refugees than Christians, a poll by the Bertelsmann Stiftung has shown.

Forty-four percent of Muslims questioned in the survey said they carried out work to help refugees, showing them to be more socially engaged than any other religious group in the country.

Twenty-one percent of Christian respondents said they volunteered with refugees in the past year. Meanwhile, 17 percent of religiously unaffiliated participants said they helped with refugees.

The report found that women were more likely to volunteer than men, and people with better education or money were also more likely to have helped refugees.

Overall, one in five German respondents said they volunteered to help refugees.

"This voluntary involvement shows that our society sticks together in difficult times, regardless of religion or backgrounds," said a statement by Yasemin El-Menouar, an Islam expert with Bertelsmann.

The survey by the German-based non-profit Bertelsmann is part of a report looking at the role of religion in society.

Bertelsmann found that one of the reasons Muslims were more engaged with refugees than other religious groups was due to their shared origin.

Many of those who volunteered came from the same countries as the refugees, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh.

The foundation also found that most volunteers that came forward shared the same language as the refugees.

The report concluded that German Muslims can be "important bridge-builders" in society.

In 2015, Germany "opened its doors" to refugees, allowing in some 1.1 million asylum seekers, mostly from Syria. About 900,000 have been given refugee status.