Islam in Cabo Verde: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Cabo Verde

The Republic of Cabo Verde is an island nation located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania and its map is presented in Figure 3.2.2. It changed its name from Cape Verde in 2013. It was uninhabited when it was discovered by the Portuguese in 1456 who named it the Green Cape. It remained under their control until it gained its independence from Portugal in 1975. It has a total area of 4,033 sq km, comprising ten islands and five islets, the largest of which are Santiago (991 sq km) where more than half of the population lives and the capital Praia is located, Santo Antão (779 sq km) with a tenth of the total population, Boavista (620 sq km), Fogo (476 sq km) with 8% of the total population, São Nicolau (388 sq km), Maio (269 sq km), Sao Vicente (227 sq km) with a sixth of the total population, Sal (216 sq km), Brava (67 sq km), Santa Luzia (35 sq km) and Raso (7 sq km).

Islam was brought to these islands in mid 1990s by immigrants from Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Nigeria. According to 1950 census, there were five people affiliated with a non-Christian religion. Estimates of the Muslim population increased from none in 1990, to 1,000 or 0.2% in 2000. The first census recording Muslim was in 2010, which recorded a total population of 491,683 of which 336,050 are fifteen years or older, of whom 6,008 or 1.8% are Muslim. The number decreased to 4,616 or 1.3% in 2021.

The Muslim population continues to increase because of immigration from predominant Muslim countries and conversion of locals. The data is summarized in Table 3.2.3. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by a quarter of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 15,000 or 2.0% by 2050 and 22,000 or 3.3% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Cabo Verde

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.