Islam by country · Asia
Islam in Mongolia: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Mongolia, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Mongolia in the interactive map
History of Islam in Mongolia
Islam entered this country when the Mongols adopted Islam as theirreligion in the first half of the fourteenth century. Unlike its neighbors tothe east, Islam did not spread here as much since its rulers did not accept Islam. It was conquered by China in 1691/1102H and gained itsindependence in 1921/1339H. Currently, Mongolia has an area of1,564,116 sq km
The Muslim population was estimated in 1920 at 20,000 or 3.1% of thetotal population. Census data since 1956 included ethnic informationfrom which we can infer religion with the assumption that all and onlyethnic Kazakhs are Muslim. Thus, as summarized in Table 2.2.4, theMuslim population increased from 37,000 or 4.3% in 1956, to 48,000 or4.7% in 1963, to 63,000 or 5.3% in 1969, to 84,000 or 5.5% in 1979, to121,000 or 6.1% in 1989, then decreased to 103,000 or 4.4% in 2000, to58,000 or 3.0% in 2010 and 70,000 or 3.2% in 2020. The decrease is due tothe migration of ethnic Kazakhs back to Kazakhstan after itsindependence in 1991. The 2010 census was the first census to collectinformation on religious adherence, which was collected frompopulation aged 15 and over only. This population was 1,905,969, whilethe total population was 2,754,685. In this last census, the Kazakhpopulation numbered 101,526 or 3.86% of the total population (all ages)and 114,506 of 2,970,355 or 3.85% in 2015, then 120,999 of 3,174,565 or3.81% in 2020. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims remainsconstant at 3.0%; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 0.14million by 2050, and 0.16 million by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Mongolia
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 | 707.0 | 21.92 | 3.10% |
| 2000 | 2,440 | 106.2 | 4.35% |
| 2100 | 5,258 | 159.3 | 3.03% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.