Islam by country
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Adherents of Islam constitute the world's second largest religious group. A projection by the PEW suggests that Muslims numbered approximately 1.9 billion followers in 2020.[2][3] Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world, mostly because Muslims have more children than other major religious groups.[4][5] Most Muslims are either of two denominations: Sunni (87–90%, roughly 1.7 billion people)[6] or Shia (10–13%, roughly 180–230 million people).[7] Islam is the majority religion in several subregions: Central Asia, Western Asia, North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, and the Middle East.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The diverse Asia-Pacific region contains the highest number of Muslims in the world, surpassing the combined Middle East and North Africa.[15]
According to the Pew Research Center in 2010, there were 50 Muslim-majority countries.[16][17] Around 62% of the world's Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region (from Turkey to Indonesia), with over one billion adherents.[18] According to the Pew Research Center in 2017, the largest Muslim population in a country is in Indonesia, a country home to 12.7% of the world's Muslims, followed by Pakistan (11.1%), India (10.9%) and Bangladesh (9.2%).[8][19]
About 20% of Muslims live in the Arab world.[20] In the Middle East, Iran and Turkey are the largest Muslim-majority countries, while Egypt and Nigeria in Africa have the same status.[8][19]
Regional comparisons
South Asia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, with about one-third of all Muslims being from South Asia.[21][22][23] Islam is the dominant religion in the Maldives, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. India is the country with the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries with more than 200 million adherents.[24]
The Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region hosts 23% of the world's Muslims, and Islam is the dominant religion in every country in the region[25] other than Israel.[9]
The country with the single largest population of Muslims is Indonesia in Southeast Asia, which on its own hosts 13% of the world's Muslims.[26] Together, the Muslims in the countries of Southeast Asia constitute the world's third-largest population of Muslims. In the countries of the Malay Archipelago, Muslims are in the majority in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
About 15% of Muslims reside in Sub-Saharan Africa,[27][page needed][10][28] and sizeable Muslim communities are also found in the Americas, Russia, China and Europe.[8]
Western Europe hosts many Muslim immigrant communities where Islam is the second-largest religion after Christianity, where it represents 6% of the total population or 24 million people.[29]