Islamic World Map and Muslim Population Estimates for 2020

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Download the approved table as CSV, or use JSON when you also need the methodology, source links, and update date.

Dataset updated October 2, 2026. Cite the resource page and include this update date.

Citation URL: https://themuslimpost.org/resources/islamic-world-map

Four questions that produce four different maps

A map of Muslim population can show people, percentages, majority status or institutional membership. These measures are related, but each answers a separate question. A population-count map asks where the largest communities live. A percentage map asks what share of a country’s residents identify as Muslim. A majority map groups places above a stated threshold, normally more than half of residents. An OIC map shows members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The legend determines which question is being answered. A deeply shaded country on a percentage map need not contain more Muslims than a lightly shaded but much more populous country. A country outlined as an OIC member is being identified through an institutional list. That outline provides no exact population count. When two illustrations look different, first compare their variables, dates and geographic units. Both may represent their chosen measure correctly. This resource concentrates on national and regional population estimates for 2020, alongside an explanation of OIC membership. Its country table is a demographic comparison. It does not measure individual religious practice, legal systems or residents’ political preferences.

Why 2020, 2025 and 2026 appear in the same source

The population reference year is 2020. Pew Research Center published the religious-composition estimates on June 9, 2025, as part of its comparison of 2010 and 2020. On February 12, 2026, it added religious-diversity scores, levels and rankings to the dataset and interactive table. Its public update notes describe the addition of those indicators; they do not relabel the underlying population estimates as a 2026 religious count. These dates describe different things. The reference year tells the reader when the estimated population existed. The original publication date identifies the release of the research. An additional-indicator date identifies a later addition to the same source. The editorial update shown on this resource records changes to our explanation and data presentation. A comparison remains meaningful when those distinctions travel with the figures. Someone reusing the ten-country table should retain “2020 estimates” in the caption, even if their own chart is prepared years later. A new webpage date supplies no new observation of religious affiliation.

How to use the numbers

Use the ten-country table as a comparison of rounded 2020 estimates. Keep the reference year, variable, geographic unit and source in a chart caption. For a country outside the selected ten, consult Pew’s country table and dataset documentation rather than extending the ranking from an unrelated annual list. A count displayed to the nearest ten thousand still carries uncertainty from the observations and estimation process. An alternative total-population series can help investigate a difference between two published estimates, provided its year and revision are identified. The World Bank’s population indicator lists inputs from UN World Population Prospects, national statistical offices, Eurostat and other UN statistics. It is a total-population series, and some of its inputs overlap those used elsewhere. Agreement with it is not automatically an independent measurement of religious affiliation. Do not manufacture a current religious count by multiplying a newer national total by an older religious percentage and presenting the product as a census result. Such a calculation assumes the share has remained constant. If a separate research task requires that scenario, state the assumption, the two dates and the calculation; it is distinct from the source estimates reproduced here.

• For national comparisons, use the count and share columns together and label the estimate year as 2020.
• For a reused chart or table, cite Pew’s 2025 research and this resource’s editorial update separately.
• For OIC membership, consult the official member list and charter; a population ranking does not establish membership.

Where most Muslims lived in 2020

Pew estimated about 2.0 billion Muslims worldwide in 2020, equivalent to 25.6% of the world’s population. About 59% of Muslims lived in Asia and the Pacific. The Middle East and North Africa contained about one-fifth of the global Muslim population, while sub-Saharan Africa contained about 18%. These percentages describe the distribution of Muslims across regions. The corresponding regional totals were approximately 1.2 billion in Asia-Pacific, 414 million in the Middle East and North Africa, and 369 million in sub-Saharan Africa. Europe and North America contained smaller national and regional communities. A graphic centered entirely on the Middle East can therefore miss the largest concentration of Muslims, even though the region has major religious and historical significance. The denominator matters here. A region’s share of all Muslims is different from the Muslim share of that region’s own population. A figure such as 59% must carry the first definition. Moving it into a national-percentage legend would change the meaning of the source.

What the ten-country ranking shows

Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh led the national ranking in Pew’s 2020 estimates. Together with the other six countries shown in the table, the ten largest Muslim populations accounted for about 65% of the worldwide Muslim total. Their concentration helps explain why the size of a country’s community and its percentage of Muslim residents should be read together. India is the clearest example in this table. Its estimated 213.06 million Muslims made up 15.2% of its residents: a minority by national share and the third-largest national Muslim population by count. A majority-only map would omit that community from its highlighted category. A count map would place it near the top. The table preserves the 2020 country estimates and their order. Population figures are rounded estimates, with percentages displayed to one decimal place. The regional labels are short geographic descriptions for readers; they should not be treated as a complete reproduction of Pew’s regional grouping system. In particular, Turkey’s transcontinental position needs an explicit classification when calculating regional totals.

Counts and percentages reveal different patterns

An absolute count describes the size of a population. A percentage describes its share of a larger population. The two measures can move in different directions: a community can grow in people while declining as a percentage if the rest of the population grows faster. When a map offers only one of these measures, a useful caption identifies the other measure that remains unseen. Consider a purely illustrative comparison. In a country of ten million residents, an 80% share corresponds to eight million people. In a country of one hundred million residents, a 10% share corresponds to ten million. The first country has the higher share; the second has the larger community. These invented round numbers explain the arithmetic and are not additional country estimates. Coloring territory by percentage is useful for examining majority and minority patterns. Symbols sized by population are useful for examining concentration. Neither technique supplies information about religious practice within a national category. To compare two countries in this resource, use both numeric columns and keep their common reference year.

Why 53 Muslim-majority places and 57 OIC members differ

Pew counted 53 countries and territories with Muslim majorities in its 2020 estimates. The OIC describes itself as an organisation of 57 member states. The first total is a demographic classification of countries and territories at a reference date. The second is an institutional membership count. Subtracting one from the other does not identify which populations or geographic units differ. The current OIC charter also specifies admission conditions. Article 3(2) provides for an applicant that is a UN member state, has a Muslim majority and abides by the charter; admission requires consensus approval by the Council of Foreign Ministers under the agreed criteria. Article 3(3) preserves existing members’ membership rights and privileges. A description of admission must include that distinction between applicants and existing members. Article 2 describes member states as sovereign, independent and equal in rights and obligations. An OIC membership layer represents participation in an intergovernmental organisation. It cannot replace a table of resident religious affiliation, nor establish the percentage in every current member. Use the official list to identify members and demographic research to describe populations.

Regional labels and national borders need their own definitions

Regional groupings are analytical choices. A chart using “West Asia” is not necessarily using the same country set as a chart using “Middle East and North Africa.” Turkey illustrates why a geographic description, a continent label and a statistical grouping can differ. Before comparing totals, identify the actual list of countries and territories in each grouping. A national color also hides internal variation. An estimate for all residents does not state the religious distribution of every city, province, age group or migration category. A map with national units answers a national question; zooming into its image does not produce a new local observation. For a separately reported territory, retain the source’s unit and reference year. Combining two units or changing their denominator creates a different statistic that needs explanation. These choices are especially important when someone compares historical and modern borders. The interpretation of a demographic unit does not settle a sovereignty question.

What population growth from 2010 to 2020 means

Pew estimated that the Muslim population increased by about 347 million, or 21%, from 2010 to 2020. Its account explains the global growth mainly through a younger population and higher fertility on average. Changes in religious identification had comparatively little effect on the global total. The growth figure should therefore not be presented as the number of people who converted to Islam. Migration can change the religious composition of a receiving or departing country. Moving a person between countries does not, by itself, add a person to the world population of a religious group. The scale of the question matters: a national migration effect and worldwide net population growth describe different processes. The decade is part of the finding. A growth rate for 2010–2020 cannot establish the rate in a later decade. A present-day chart citing this research should name the historical interval and distinguish an observed or reconstructed comparison from a forecast.

What religious-affiliation estimates can and cannot measure

Pew’s methodology combines different observations and estimation procedures. A population category concerns religious affiliation as measured by those sources. It does not directly count the frequency of prayer, theological views or adherence to every religious practice. Readers need to preserve the meaning of the measured category when interpreting a high national percentage. Iran makes the distinction concrete. Pew uses its national census for the religious-composition estimate, in which more than 99% formally identify as Muslim. Its methodology discusses anonymous online research that produces a different picture, and explains why those surveys are unsuitable for the same 2010–2020 comparison. The table’s 99.8% belongs to Pew’s specified method. It is not a verdict on every resident’s personal belief. An apparently precise number can be useful for comparison while remaining an estimate. Display precision and evidential certainty are separate properties. The count and share columns should be copied with their rounding and source context, rather than supplied with extra decimal places that suggest a more exact observation.

How population totals and religious shares are combined

Pew’s dataset covers 201 countries and territories and draws on more than 2,700 data sources. Its religious-composition observations include censuses, surveys and population registers. Country population totals and general demographic characteristics come from the 2024 revision of UN World Population Prospects. These components explain why a consistent global comparison may use a later statistical revision for an earlier reference year. UN population estimates and projections concern total populations. They do not, on their own, establish religious shares. Pew supplies the separate religious-composition work. Keeping the two roles visible prevents a citation to a population denominator from being mistaken for evidence about affiliation. Counts and percentages are rounded for presentation. Multiplying a displayed percentage by a displayed national total may produce a result different from a source’s rounded religious count, because the source can use unrounded underlying figures. That difference is not, by itself, evidence that the table is inconsistent. Preserve the supplied figures and investigate the documented rounding procedure before recomputing them.

Historical Islamic geography describes different evidence

Historical maps can represent a political institution, a network of journeys or the geography of a surviving text. Their dates and evidence differ from those of a resident-population estimate. The Metropolitan Museum’s account distinguishes the Umayyad emirate of Córdoba in 756–929 from the caliphate in 929–1031. The institutional endpoint does not supply a modern percentage of Muslim residents. Our study of Córdoba’s caliphate separates the civil-war breakup, the 1031 endpoint and the much later conquest of the city in 1236. It shows how an historical map needs to say which political object and period it represents. Our account of Ibn Battuta’s Rihla explains a second case: fourteenth-century travel corridors and modern counts of countries visited depend on reconstruction, geographic identification and disputed stops. Those studies are related reading for interpreting map categories and dates. They do not provide the 2020 population figures in this resource. A medieval route can be compared with a modern border for a clearly stated historical question; it should not be treated as a census of people living along that route today.

A caption that keeps the comparison reproducible

For the ten-country table, a useful caption is: “Estimated Muslim population and Muslim share of national population in 2020; rounded figures from Pew Research Center’s 2025 religious-composition research.” Add the chosen source or resource update when identifying the version used. The caption names people, percentage, reference year, rounding and research release in one place. If a graphic shows only majority status, state its threshold and geographic units. If it shows OIC membership, identify the membership source and date checked. A picture described simply as an “Islamic world map” leaves those choices unresolved, however familiar its outlines look. The Muslim Post editorial desk maintains this guide and its selected country table. The downloadable CSV reproduces the ten rows; the JSON also carries the method notes, sources and editorial data update. The explanation uses the 2020 population reference year throughout. Future changes to source methods or country estimates require a revised explanation and table, while a change to a diversity indicator should be described for what it adds.

Largest Muslim populations by country

Rounded Pew Research Center estimates for 2020. The count column is people; the share column is the percentage of national residents. Figures displayed to one decimal place or the nearest ten thousand remain estimates. The short region labels are geographic descriptions, not a complete statistical region definition.

Population, majority status and membership at a glance

The demographic answers refer to 2020; the membership answer follows the OIC official list and charter consulted for this resource. The rows concern different populations and geographic units.

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