Which countries have the largest Muslim populations?
Executive summary
The largest Muslim populations are concentrated in South and Southeast Asia, led by Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, which together account for a very large share of the global Muslim community; several African and Middle Eastern countries follow, including Nigeria and Egypt (see Visual Capitalist, Statista and Datapandas) [1][2][3]. Estimates of absolute numbers vary by source and year — roughly 1.9–2.1 billion Muslims worldwide in recent tallies — so rankings are stable at the top but can shift slightly with updated data and methodology [4][5][6].
1. Asia’s giants: Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh — the top four
Indonesia is routinely reported as the single country with the largest Muslim population (around 241–242 million in multiple recent rankings), followed closely by Pakistan (roughly 225–235 million), with India and Bangladesh occupying third and fourth places respectively (India ~211–215 million; Bangladesh ~150 million) — together these four account for nearly 40% of the world’s Muslims in several datasets [1][2][7][1].
2. The next tier: Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and North Africa
Beyond South and Southeast Asia, populous countries with very large Muslim communities include Nigeria (often cited at more than 120 million Muslims), Egypt, Iran and Turkey, while Algeria, Sudan and several North and West African states also rank high by absolute numbers; these countries illustrate that the global Muslim population is split across Asia and Africa rather than concentrated solely in the Middle East [1][3][7].
3. Context and proportion: majority vs. large-minority countries
Many of the countries with the largest Muslim counts are Muslim-majority states, but important exceptions exist: India is home to the world’s largest Muslim minority — a huge population in absolute terms despite representing roughly 15% of India’s total — illustrating why absolute numbers and percentage share tell different stories about influence and demographics [8][1][9].
4. How researchers reach these rankings — and why they differ
Different organizations (Pew Research Center, national censuses, Visual Capitalist, Statista, World Population Review and other aggregators) produce similar top-line lists but disagree on exact figures because of differing base years, methods for estimating religious affiliation, treatment of migrants and refugees, and projections versus census counts; for instance Pew notes the top 10 countries combined hold about 1.3 billion Muslims while other compilations give country-by-country totals that sum to slightly different global totals [10][1][2].
5. Moving targets: growth, projections and surprises
Analysts emphasize that the Muslim population is among the fastest-growing major religious groups and that growth patterns will shift regional shares over coming decades — Pew and other studies project continued growth in Asia and Africa and even changing European shares, and some projections foresee Pakistan possibly surpassing Indonesia in certain scenarios by 2030 [10][11].
6. Limits of available reporting and the takeaway
Public rankings consistently place Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh at the top, followed by populous African and Middle Eastern states, but exact ranks and counts depend on source selection and date; available reporting reliably identifies the broad pattern (Asia-Pacific dominance plus large African pockets) while acknowledging methodological variance across datasets [8][12][4].