Islam by country · Americas
Islam in Aruba: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Aruba, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Aruba in the interactive map
History of Islam in Aruba
It was conquered by the Dutch in 1636. It was part of the formation of the Netherland Antilles in 1954, but then seceded in 1986. However, Aruba remains a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It consists of one island with an area of 160 sq km. And its map is presented in Figure 5.1.1. According to census data as shown in Table 5.1.1, the Muslim population was nonexistent until the second half of the twentieth century. In 1972 Census, 45 people were recorded as either Muslims or Bhuddists. The number of Muslims increased from seven or 0.01% in 1981, to 218 or 0.3% in 1991, to 326 or 0.3% in 2010. The total population increased to 90,508 in 2000; however, the corresponding census did not include Islam in its religion questionnaire.
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 in few hundreds throughout this century.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Aruba
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.
| Year | Total population (thousands) | Muslim population (thousands) | Muslim share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 9.60 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| 2000 | 88.12 | 0.291 | 0.33% |
| 2100 | 60.48 | 0.454 | 0.75% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.