Islam in Montserrat: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Montserrat

This island was sighted by Columbus in 1493, who named it after a mountain in Catalonia, to which it resembles. The island was conquered by the British in 1632 and remains an overseas territory of the UK. It consists of one island with an area of 102 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 5.3.4. About two thirds of the population left the Island after the 1995 Soufrière Hills volcano eruption.

According to census data as shown in Table 5.3.4, the Muslim population increased from none in 1946 and before, to fourteen or 0.1% in 1980, then decreased to none in 1991, and increased to seven or 0.2% in 2001 and then to eight or 0.2% in 2011 and to nineteen or 0.4% in 2018.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by one tenth of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to remain around thirty people, with percentage increasing from 0.7% by 2050 to 1.2% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Montserrat

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.