Islam in Greece: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Greece

Muslims controlled Rhodes Island between 653 and 658 during the reign of Caliph Muawiya bnu Abi Sufyan, in their failed attempt to conquer Constantinople. It was also captured from 717 to 718. Muslims conquered Crete from the Byzantine Empire from 827 to 961 by expelled Muslims from Cordoba. They were expelled by an Umayyad Caliph in al-Andalus, and they were led by Abu Hafs Omar el Ballooti. During this time, the majority of the Island was Muslim. However, after the Muslims’ defeat, the Muslim population was forced to migrate out of the Island or become Christian, and therefore no Muslims left in the Island.

Current Greece fell under the Ottoman Empire between 1380 and 1718. The Macedonian (Northern) part was conquered in 1380, Thessaly (Central part) in 1393, and the rest of the mainland in 1500, then the islands of Rhodes in 1522, then Crete between 1645 and 1718. Greece then gained its independence in 1828, which included the middle part, Peloponnese (Morea) peninsula, and some islands, with a total area of 47,516 sq km. At this time Muslims constituted 30% of the total population. This percentage reduced to 1% by 1889 due to migration of Muslims to the Ottoman Empire fearing harassments and discrimination by Greek Orthodox. The new country expanded its area to 50,211 sq km by annexing the Ionian Islands including Corfu in 1864 (ceded by the UK), to 63,606 sq km by annexing Thessaly in 1881, to 71,942 sq km by annexing Crete in 1898, to 129,281 sq km by annexing parts of Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace (west) and Aegean islands in 1913, to 131,944 by annexing the Dodecanese Islands including Rhodes in 1947 (ceded by Italy). This doubled the size and population of Greece and increased the Muslims to 25% by 1920 census.

Following the treaty of Lausanne, a massive population exchange took place between Greece and Turkiye based on their religious belief and regardless of their ethnicity and mother tongue. This resulted in over a million Muslims moving from Greece to Turkiye, and similar number of Greek Orthodox moved from Turkiye to Greece. This reduced the percentage of Muslims in Greece to 2% by 1928 census. The treaty excluded Istanbul and West Thrace from the exchange, and that is why the Muslim presence in Greece was not reduced to zero. In 1900, the island of Crete had a total population of 303,543, out of which 33,496 or 11% was Muslim, but they were expelled to Turkiye, reducing its Muslim population to zero. Currently, the Hellenic Republic has an area of 131,957 sq km

Thus, the Muslim population was reduced from 0.23 million or 30% in 1828, to 1,000 or 0.1% in 1870, increased to 25,000 or 1.3% in 1882 after the annexation of Thessaly, then decreased to 24,000 or 1.1% in 1889, then increased to 1.4 million or 25.3% in 1920 with the annexation of new lands, then reduced to 0.13 million or 2.0% in 1928 as a result of the deportation of Muslims to Turkiye, and 0.14 million or 1.9% in 1940. The Muslim population then remained at 0.11 million, reducing in percentage with respect to the total population to 1.5% in 1951 and 1.4% in 1961, which was the last census to inquire on the religious affiliation of the population. According to the European Values Survey (EVS), the percentage of Muslims was 1.78% in 2008. In addition, according to the World Values Survey (WVS), the percentage of Muslims was 2.9% in 2017.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by one percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach half million of 6% by 2050 and 0.7 million or 11% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Greece

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.