Islam in Marshall Islands: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands gained its independence in 1986 from the United Sates of America’s administrated United Nations Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands but remains in Compact of Free Association with the United States of America. The islands were under German control from 1885 to 1914, then Japanese control until 1944, then the Americans under the UN Trust.

The Marshall Islands have a total area of 181 sq km, comprising 29 atolls and five isolated islands, covering over two million squared kilometers of the South Pacific Ocean. The largest atolls are Bokak (129 sq km), Toke (94 sq km), Kwajalein (16 sq km), Ailinglaplap and Mili (15 sq km each), Jaluit (11 sq km), Likiep, Majuro, Maloelap (10 sq km each). Majuro Atoll is the capital and has almost half of the total population.

In 1907, the Muslim population consisted of fifty Malay or 0.4% of the total population. But the 2011 census indicated the presence of no Muslims (excluding Ahmadiyya Muslims). The Ahmadi Muslims established their first “mosque” on the Islands in 2012, which is located in Uliga at the east of Majuro Atoll.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by 0.01 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to remain less than one hundred or 0.1% of the total population throughout this century.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Marshall Islands

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.