Islam in Antigua & Barbuda: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Antigua & Barbuda

The Island of Antigua was sighted by Columbus in 1493, who named it after a church in Seville, Spain, called Santa Maria La Antigua, or the ancient. It was first inhabited by few English in 1632, and many colonists arrived to it in 1663. It was declared a British Possession in 1666. The islands gained their independence from the UK in 1981. They have an area of 443 sq km which comprises the two main islands of Antigua (280 sq km) and Barbuda (161 sq km) and several much smaller uninhabited nearby islands. About 98% of the total population lives in Antigua while only 2% lives in Barbuda.

The first Muslims arrived from Syria in early twentieth century. According to census data as shown in Table 5.3.2, the Muslim population increased from none in 1911 and before, to nineteen or 0.1% in 1946, to 228 or 0.3% in 2001, to 208 or 0.3% in 2011.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by 0.05 of a percentage point each decade; then the Muslim population is expected to remain less than one thousand throughout this century, reaching 0.7% of the total population by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Antigua & Barbuda

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.