Which European capitals have the highest absolute numbers of Muslim residents in 2025?
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Executive summary
Paris’s metropolitan area is consistently reported as the single largest concentration of Muslim residents within the European Union — INSEE-based estimates put the Paris area at about 2.5 million Muslims in recent counts cited by compilations of city data [1]. London and Germany’s large cities (Berlin and Hamburg) follow as the other European capitals most frequently identified in studies and reports as holding the largest absolute Muslim communities, but disparities in national data collection and methodological differences make exact 2025 city-by-city rankings uncertain [2] [3] [4].
1. Paris (and Île-de-France): Europe’s largest Muslim urban population within the EU
Multiple compilations that pool national statistics and city studies identify Paris and its metropolitan area as having the largest number of Muslim residents in the EU, with INSEE-derived counts cited at roughly 2.5 million Muslims in the Paris region in recent years — a figure that places Paris ahead of other EU capitals in absolute terms according to those sources [1]. That prominence is complicated by France’s legal restrictions on collecting religious data, which forces researchers to rely on indirect methods and surveys [5], but the consensus in EU city-level listings still points to Paris as the biggest single concentration.
2. London and UK cities: a national total that produces a very large urban Muslim community
The United Kingdom’s overall Muslim population is frequently estimated in the millions and London is repeatedly singled out as hosting a very large share of that total; one widely cited 2025 estimate places the UK Muslim population near 4 million with London’s Muslim population over 1.5 million, making it the largest city-level Muslim concentration after Paris in many cross-city comparisons [3]. Comparative studies of Muslim residents in European capitals — including Gallup-style city comparisons — also routinely include London alongside Paris and Berlin as one of the top cities by absolute numbers [4] [2].
3. Berlin, Hamburg and other large German cities: major absolute communities but method gaps persist
Germany’s principal cities — primarily Berlin and Hamburg — are named in multi-city reports as centers of substantial Muslim populations, and Germany is often included among the countries with the largest urban Muslim counts in Europe [2] [4]. However, Germany’s official statistics and microcensuses do not consistently capture religious affiliation for subnational populations in ways that permit straightforward 2025 city rankings, and researchers must infer numbers from migration, origin and survey data [5].
4. Secondary European capitals and large cities: Marseille, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vienna and others
A number of other European capitals and major cities are repeatedly listed as having sizable absolute Muslim communities: Marseille and Paris within France, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium, Copenhagen in Denmark, and Vienna in Austria are all featured in comparative city reports and field studies of Muslim communities across Europe [2] [6]. Vienna has drawn attention in 2025-specific school-survey reporting showing high shares of Muslim pupils in state schools — a marker of a significant urban community even if it is not a direct headcount of adult residents [5] [2].
5. Russia’s national Muslim population and the caution about non-EU capitals
Russia contains the single largest national Muslim population in Europe by some estimates (~16 million in 2025 according to some demographic overviews), which implies very large Muslim communities in major Russian cities, but available summaries in the provided reporting do not supply robust, comparable city-level counts for Moscow or other Russian capitals to include them precisely among a 2025 city ranking [3] [7]. Therefore, while Russia’s national totals are important context, the lack of directly comparable city-level data in these sources limits firm claims about specific Russian capitals relative to EU capitals.
6. Conclusion — a ranked but qualified picture
Putting the cited materials together yields a defensible, qualified ordering for 2025: Paris (Île‑de‑France) appears to be the largest EU capital-area Muslim population (≈2.5 million per INSEE-based compilations) followed by London (city/metro estimates >1.5 million), then other major capitals such as Berlin, Marseille, Amsterdam/Rotterdam, and Vienna as significant but smaller absolute concentrations; Russia’s national Muslim population is larger overall but city-by-city comparisons for Moscow or other Russian capitals are not consistently documented in the provided sources [1] [3] [2] [5]. Data collection limits, national legal restrictions on religious statistics, and differing methodologies mean any precise 2025 ranking by absolute city counts should be treated as provisional and dependent on the data choices of each study [5] [2].