Islam by country · Oceania
Islam in French Polynesia: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in French Polynesia, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open French Polynesia in the interactive map
History of Islam in French Polynesia
The Overseas Lands of French Polynesia was established as a French protectorate in 1889. The conquest of the Islands by France started with Tahiti and Tahuata in 1842. French Polynesia has an area of 3,521 sq km, comprising over 130 islands scattered over 2.5 million sq km of the South Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are Tahiti (1,045 sq km) where over two thirds of the population live and the capital Papeete is located, Nuku-Hiva (388 sq km), Hiva-Oa (330 sq km), Raiatea (167 sq km), Moorea (134 sq km), Tahaa (90 sq km), Huahine (75 sq km), Tubuai (45 sq km), Rapa (40 sq km), Rurutu (29 sq km), and Bora Bora (29 sq km). A map of these islands is presented in Figure 6.4.2. As shown in Table 6.4.2, the presence of Muslims is negligible, which increased from none in 1907 and 1967, to about 500 or 0.2% in 2017. Almost all Muslims live in Tahiti, where the first mosque in the archipelago was inaugurated in 2013.
Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by a tenth of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to increase to almost 2,000 or 0.5% in 2050 and almost 3,000 or 1.0% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for French Polynesia
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 | 30.60 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| 2000 | 248.9 | 0.002 | 0.00% |
| 2100 | 282.8 | 2.83 | 1.00% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.