Islam in Hungary: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Hungary

Islam entered Hungary during the eleventh century with the arrival of Muslim Tatars and Muslims from Morocco and Al-Andalus, reaching in number about 100,000 or 12.5% of the total population at the start of the thirteenth century. They remained until King Charles I (Charles Robert who reigned from 1310 to 1342) forced them to become Christians.

After the Battle of Mohács in 1526 in which the King of Hungary Louis II died, the Ottomans emerges victorious and started conquering current Hungary. This was during the time of Sultan Sulaiman I al-Qanuni (Arabic for lawgiver) or the Magnificent ben Selim I, the tenth Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who reigned from 1520 to 1566. This battle marked the end of the Hungarian Empire. Eventually, the Muslim Ottomans occupied Budapest in 1529. The Muslims remained in control of current Hungary until they were forced out in 1699 after their unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1683. Thus, the Muslim rule in Hungary lasted up to 173 years. Most Muslim settlers left Hungary after the defeat of the Ottomans. Currently, Hungary has an area of 93,028 sq km

As summarized in Table 4.5.4., and based on the census data, there were no Muslims in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1850. The census of 1870 recorded 45 Muslims (41 in Budapest and four in Sármellék). It was reduced to twelve by 1880 (seven in Budapest and five in Tolna) then increased to 411 or 0.01% in 1910 (389 in Budapest, mostly Bosnian soldiers), then 468 or 0.01% in 1920, to 291 or 0.00% in 1930, to 3,201 or 0.04% in 2001, to 5,579 or 0.08% in 2011. The last census did not collect religious affiliation from almost a third of the population or 2.70 million people.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to rise by 0.02 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 14,000 or 0.2% by 2050 and 18,000 or 0.2% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Hungary

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.