Islam by country · Oceania
Islam in Cook Islands: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Cook Islands, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Cook Islands in the interactive map
History of Islam in Cook Islands
These are self-governing entity in free association with New Zealand. It has an area of 237 sq km comprising fifteen major islands spread over 2.2 million sq km of South Pacific Ocean. Twelve of the islands are inhabited and the largest are Rarotonga (67 sq km) where the capital Avarua is located and almost three-quarter of the total population, Mangaia (52 sq km), Atiu (27 sq km), Mitiaro (22 sq km), Aitutaki (18 sq km) and Penrhyn (10 sq km).
Based on census data, the first Muslims arrived here in late 1990s. Accordingly, as shown in Table 6.4.1, the Muslim population increased from none in 1996 and before, to three or 0.02% in 2001 to eight or 0.05% in 2006, to 26 or 0.17% in 2011. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by 0.05 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to remain less than one hundred throughout this century, comprising 0.4% of the total population by 2050 and 0.7% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Cook Islands
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 | 8.21 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| 2000 | 16.20 | 0.003 | 0.02% |
| 2100 | 16.79 | 0.109 | 0.65% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.