Nearly
one in five people in the world today claims the faith of Islam. A diverse
community of believers spans the globe. Over fifty countries have
Muslim-majority populations, while other groups of believers are clustered in
minority communities on nearly every continent.
Although Islam is often
associated with the Arab world and the Middle East, fewer than 15% of Muslims
are Arab.
Distribution of Muslims
| Africa |
308,660,000 |
27.4% |
| Asia |
778,362,000 |
69.1% |
| Europe |
32,032,000 |
2.8% |
| Latin America |
1,356,000 |
0.1% |
| North America |
5,530,000 |
0.5% |
| Oceania |
385,000 |
0.0% |
| World |
1,126,325,000 |
100% |
Source: Britannica Yearbook, 1997
Countries with Muslim Populations of 10% or more (1996)
| Country |
# in millions |
| Indonesia |
182.2 m |
| Pakistan |
136.9 m |
| Bangladesh |
115.0 m |
| India |
108.6 m |
| Iran |
63.9 m |
| Turkey |
61.0 m |
| Egypt |
51.6 m |
| Nigeria |
40.2 m |
| Algeria |
29.1 m |
| China * |
29.1 m |
| Morocco |
29.1 m |
| Iraq |
21.4 m |
| Sudan |
20.4 m |
| Ethiopia |
18.3 m |
| Afghanistan |
18.0 m |
| Yemen |
16.1 m |
| Saudi Arabia |
16.0 m |
| Uzbekistan |
15.9 m |
| Malaysia |
10.5 m |
| Mali |
9.4 m |
| Tunisia |
9.0 m |
| Somalia |
8.5 m |
| Senegal |
7.7 m |
| Niger |
7.5 m |
| Kazakhstan |
6.9 m |
| Guinea |
6.5 m |
| Azerbaijan |
6.1 m |
| Cote d'Ivoire |
5.9 m |
| Libya |
5.2 m |
| Tajikstan |
5.2 m |
| Burkina Faso |
5.0 m |
| Jordan |
3.6 m |
| Syria |
3.5 m |
| Cameroon |
3.1 m |
| Turkmenistan |
3.1 m |
| Chad |
2.9 m |
| Ghana |
2.8 m |
| Kyrgyzstan |
2.8 m |
| Israel (Palestine) |
2.4 m |
| Mauritania |
2.3 m |
| Mozambique |
2.3 m |
| Sierra Leone |
2.0 m |
| Bosnia |
1.8 m |
| Serbia |
1.8 m |
| United Arab Emirates |
1.8 m |
| Lebanon |
1.7 m |
| Oman |
1.7 m |
| Malawi |
1.5 m |
| Tanzania |
1.5 m |
| Albania |
1.4 m |
| Bulgaria |
1.3 m |
| Brunei |
1.2 m |
| Kuwait |
1.2 m |
| Benin |
0.95 m |
| Gambia |
0.94 m |
| Togo |
0.85 m |
| Macedonia |
0.59 m |
| Bahrain |
0.51 m |
| Comoros |
0.51 m |
| Guinea Bissau |
0.49 m |
| Qatar |
0.47 m |
| Djibouti |
0.45 m |
| Singapore |
0.44 m |
| Liberia |
0.40 m |
| Maldives |
0.25 m |
| Mauritius |
0.19 m |
| Sahara |
0.13 m |
| Suriname |
0.10 m |
| Cyprus |
0.04 m |
| Gibraltar |
0.003 m |
* Muslims in China represent 2.4% of the population.
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