Islam in Malta: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Malta

The Republic of Malta is an island nation with a total area of 316 sq km that consists mainly of three islands: Malta (246 sq km), Gozo (67 sq km), and Cumino (3 sq km). A map of these islands is presented in Figure 4.5.7. It was captured by Muslims of the Aghlabid Dynasty from the Byzantine Empire in 870. This occurred during the reign of Mohammed II bnu Ahmad who reigned from 863 to 875 and was the eighth ruler of the Aghlabid Dynasty. Eventually the majority of the population was Muslims.

After Sicily fell to the Christian Nomads, Roger I ben Tancred seized the island in 1091, after 221 years of Muslim control. But Muslims were forced to leave the Island or Islam, which reduced their number to zero, but the Maltese language remains an Arabic dialect. The Maltese Archipelago was eventually conquered by the British in 1802 until 1964, when it gained its independence.

The census of 1901 shows the presence of 12 Muslims in the Islands, or 0.01% of the total population. Until the 1990s, the presence of Muslims in the Maltese Islands remained negligible and consisted mostly of Libyan nationals. The 1957 Census recorded twenty Libyans living in the islands, making up 0.01% of the total population. In 1985, the number of those born in a Muslim majority country consisted of 216 in Libya and 13 in Egypt. In 1995, that number consisted only of 508 in Libya. In 2005, the number jumped to 2,640 including 755 in Libya, 446 in Egypt, 281 in Tunisia, 179 in Syria, 147 in Morocco, 139 in Turkiye, 122 in Bosnia, 97 in Pakistan and 76 in Albania. However, according to EVS survey, the percentage of Muslims was 0.16% in 2008.

Hence, the number of Muslims in Malta increased from five in 1881 to twelve in 1901, to twenty in 1957, to 229 or 0.1% in 1985, to 508 or 0.1% in 1995, to 670 or 0.2% in 2008. 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 3,000 or 0.6% by 2050 and 4,000 or 1.1% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Malta

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.