Islam in Armenia: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Armenia

The Republic of Armenia has an area of 29,743 sq km and its map ispresented in Figure 2.1.1. It was taken by the Russians from the Persiansand the Ottomans in 1813/1228H and 1828/1243H, respectively. It gainedits independence upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in1991/1412H. It was conquered by Muslims in 640/19H during the time ofCaliph Omar peacefully. The Muslim troops were led by the Prophet’scompanion Othman bnul Abil As.

According to the 1897/1314H Russian Empire census the Muslimpopulation was 0.25 million or 34.7% of the total population. This datawas deduced from the corresponding data of Erivan Governorateexcluding Surmali Uyezd which is in Turkiye, Nakhichevan Uyezdwhich is in Azerbijan and excluding the Muslm population of SharurDaealagyoz Uyezd and including Zangezur Uyezd from ElisbethpolGovernorate

Censuses since 1926/1345H collected ethnic affiliation demography ofthe population. As a result of war with Azerbaijan over NagornoKarabakh region, the only Muslim group left is the Kurds. Azerbaijani population was numerous until the breakup of the Soviet Union, butthey were ethnically cleansed by ethnic Armin. There was also largeTurkish, Persian and Karakalpak ethnicities that were recorded in the1926 Census, but their number became negligible since then.

Based on the ethnic census data, the Muslim population continued todecrease due to wars and ethnic cleansing of Turks and Azerbaijanis.Indeed, the Muslim population decreased in number and percentagefrom 350,000 or 42.2% in 1897, to 167,000 or 18.9% in 1926, to 131,000 or10.2% in 1939, to 109,000 or 6.2% in 1959. It then increased to 149,000 or6.0% in 1970, to 162,000 or 5.3% in 1979, but decreased to 86,000 or 2.6%in 1989. The 2011 census was the first to collect religious information andcross data with ethnicity. It recorded 812 or 0.03% Muslims and almostall Kurds and Yazidis were non-Muslim. The reason for the decrease ofthe Muslim population is the war with Azerbaijan over the NagornoKarabagh region in the 1990s, which forced Azeris to leave Armenia toAzerbaijan.

As summarized in Table 2.1.1b and assuming that the percentage ofMuslims will increase by 0.01 of a percentage point per decade; then thenumber of Muslims is expected to remain less than 2,000 or 0.1%throughout the second half of this century.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Armenia

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.