Distribution of Muslims in the world - statistics

Statistical data are very often approximate for certain countries. We can nevertheless consider that the Muslim population spread across the world today is around 1,575,000,000. 

Introduction

Arabs and Muslims should not be confused. Some Arabs are of Christian faith and constitute significant minorities as in Iraq (3% before the attacks of Daesh or the “Islamic State” in 2014, which caused a massive exodus that is difficult to quantify), in Jordan (5%), in Palestine (5%), in Syria (7.2% in 2011, but the country has since experienced a civil war leading to the displacement of more than 10 million refugees of all faiths or ethnicities, including 3.5 million outside the borders), Egypt (7%), Lebanon (around 30%), etc.

Let us also remember that Arabs are a minority among Muslims. Indonesian Muslims (204 million) alone are almost as numerous as the Muslim Arabs of the Maghreb and Mashreq combined.

If we carry out regional groupings we see that the majority of Muslims are located in Asia (around 62%), North Africa and the Middle East (around 21%).

In sub-Saharan Africa (around 15%), the remaining 2% living in Europe or on the American continent.

Further read : The Concept of Ummah in Islam, What's Ommah in Muslim Community?

Table 1

Countries with a number of Muslims on their territory greater than 10,000,000 in descending order in millions according to censuses or estimates carried out between 2010 and 2014.

Table 2

Countries with a number of Muslims on their territory between less than 10,000,000 and more than 1,000,000 in descending order according to censuses or estimates carried out between 2010 and 2014.

Table 3

Countries whose population is more than 90% Muslim in 2014 (percentage)