New Estimate: World Has 1.57 Billion Muslims; About 1/4 Of Population

posted on: Oct 8, 2009

New data underscore how Islam has spread around the world and that it’s wrong to think of the religion only in terms of its Arab followers.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that after three years of research it has concluded there are about 1.57 billion Muslims around the world, with more than 60% in Asia.

The four countries with the largest Muslim populations are all outside the Middle East: Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

“This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really just obliterated by this report,” Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University, tells the Associated Press.

The numbers put Islam at No. 2 in terms of followers, behind Christianity’s estimated 2.1 billion to 2.2 billion. At 1.57 billion, Islam is followed by about 23% of the global population.

Mark Memmott
NPR