Reading population estimates carefully
Counts of Muslims vary because researchers use different definitions, dates, sources and methods. Some estimates count people who identify with Islam, while others focus on adults, households, mosque participants or survey respondents. Older figures should therefore be read as historical records rather than current totals.
Historical worldwide estimates
The source material collected a range of published estimates from the 1990s through the mid-2010s. They illustrate how estimates changed as survey methods and demographic research developed.
| Approximate estimate | Source and date recorded in the archive |
|---|---|
| 700 million or more | Barnes & Noble Encyclopedia, 1993 |
| 817 million | The Universal Almanac, 1996 |
| 951 million | The Cambridge Factfinder, 1993 |
| 1.1 billion | The World Almanac, 1997 |
| 1.2 billion | Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2012 |
| 1.57 billion | Pew Research Center, 2016 |
| 1.6 billion | Pew Research Center, 2013 |
Where Muslims live
Islam is often associated in North American media with the Middle East, but the largest Muslim populations are found in Asia. Indonesia has historically been among the countries with the greatest number of Muslims. The archived Pew distribution for 2013 was approximately:
- 986 million in the Asia-Pacific region;
- 317 million in the Middle East and North Africa;
- 248 million in sub-Saharan Africa;
- 43.5 million in Europe;
- 3.5 million in North America; and
- 840,000 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Regional totals are estimates, and the boundaries used by research organizations can differ. The broader point is that Muslims live across every major world region and cannot be treated as a single regional or ethnic population.
Estimating the Muslim population in the United States
No single method provides a complete count of Muslims in the United States. The country does not ask a general religious-affiliation question in its national census, and surveys can produce different results depending on sampling, wording and whether they count children as well as adults.
People may also choose not to disclose religious identity to an unknown caller or researcher. In addition, “Muslim” can describe personal identity, family background, active religious participation or affiliation with a mosque; those categories do not always overlap.
For these reasons, historical U.S. estimates ranged widely. The responsible conclusion is not that one disputed number is definitive, but that the Muslim population is substantial, internally diverse and difficult to measure with one instrument.
Ethnic and regional diversity among U.S. Muslims
An archived Faith Communities Today report described the backgrounds of regular mosque participants using broad categories. The figures below are historical survey results, not a census of every Muslim in the country:
| Reported background | Share in the archived survey |
|---|---|
| South Asian | 33% |
| Black or African American | 30% |
| Arab | 25% |
| Sub-Saharan African | 3.4% |
| European, including Balkan and Tatar communities | 2.1% |
| White American | 1.6% |
| Southeast Asian | 1.3% |
| Caribbean | 1.2% |
| Turkish | 1.1% |
| Iranian | 0.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 0.6% |
These categories reflect the design of an older report and may overlap with how people describe themselves today. They should not be used to assign identity to individuals. They do, however, help correct the impression that American Muslims share one ethnic origin.
Continue reading
This topic continues in the next essay about Muslims in the United States.
Sources noted in the archive
- Besheer Mohamed, Pew Research Center, January 2016, on estimates of the U.S. Muslim population.
- Drew Desilver, Pew Research Center, June 2013, on the global distribution of Muslims.
- A 2002 Washington Post report discussing competing estimates of Muslim participation and population in the United States.
- Faith Communities Today: Mosque in America: A National Portrait, Hartford Institute for Religious Research, 2001, as reproduced in a U.S. Department of State demographic information report.