Islam in Bangladesh: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Bangladesh

Islam entered current Bangladesh in 1192, when MuízzuddinMuhammad Ghori of the Ghorid Dynasty captured these lands togetherwith north India. Currently, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has anarea of 143,998 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 2.5.1a. It wasoccupied by the British in 1757, gained its independence from the UK asEast Pakistan in 1947, and from Pakistan as Bangladesh in 1971.

Based on census data and as shown in Table 2.5.1, the Muslimpopulation increased from 14.7 million or 63.7% in 1871, to 16.3 millionor 65.1% in 1881, to 17.7 million or 65.5% in 1891, to 19.1 million or 66.1%in 1901, to 21.2 million or 67.2% in 1911, to 22.6 million or 1921, to 24.7million or 69.5% in 1931, to 29.5 million or 70.3% in 1941. Then after itsindependence from the British, Muslims increased to 34.5 million or76.9% in 1951, and 40.9 million or 80.4% in 1961. The increase inpercentage of Muslims is due to the forced population exchange betweenPakistan and India, whereby Muslims migrated to East and WestPakistan, while Hindus moved to India. After independence from Pakistan, the Muslim population increased to 61 million or 85.4% in1974. Again, the increase of Muslim percentage is due to the war ofindependence from Pakistan, during which many Hindus fled to Indiaand did not return. The number of Muslims continued to increase to 75million or 86.7% in 1981, to 94 million or 88.3% in 1991, to 111 million or89.6% in 2001, to 135 million or 90.4% in 2011, to 150 million or 91.0% in2022.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of the Muslim population willcontinue to increase by a half of a percentage point per decade; then theMuslim population is expected to reach 188 million or 92.5% by 2050 and168 million or 95% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Bangladesh

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.