Islam by country · Africa
Islam in Eritrea: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Eritrea, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Eritrea in the interactive map
History of Islam in Eritrea
The State of Eritrea has an area of 117,600 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.3.3a. It was taken by Italy from the Ottoman Empire in 1885. It was then taken from them by the British in 1941 and gained independence from the UK as part of Ethiopia in 1952. It gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1991. According to census data, the Muslim population increased from 0.15 million or 55.4% in 1905, to 0.31 million or 52.3% in 1931. According to Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the percentage of Muslims was 38.18% in 1995 and 39.59% in 2002. The population is predominantly Muslim in the eastern and western lowlands and mainly Christian in the highlands.
Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims remains fixed; then the Muslim population is expected to exceed two million by 2050 and three million by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Eritrea
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 | 669.0 | 370.3 | 55.35% |
| 2000 | 2,378 | 940.8 | 39.57% |
| 2100 | 8,567 | 3,390 | 39.57% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.