Islam by country · Africa
Islam in Niger: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Niger, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Niger in the interactive map
History of Islam in Niger
The Republic of Niger has an area of 1,267,000 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.1.8. It was occupied by France between 1900 and 1922 and gained its independence in 1960. Islam entered here during the tenth century through trade. By 1010, Kusoy Muslim Dam, the ruler of the Za Dynasty of the Songhai Empire converted to Islam. This Dynasty was based on Gao, east of current Mali. Starting 1085, the eastern part of current Niger was ruled by the Sayfawa Muslim Dynasty of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, which was centered in Kanem in west Chad.
By 1921, the Muslim population was estimated at 881,000 or 81.3% of the total population. Based on census data, the Muslim population increased from 1.5 million or 98.5% in 1960, to 7.2 million or 98.7% in 1988, to 11 million or 99.3% in 2001 and 17 million or 99.3% in 2012. According to ABS survey data, the percentage of Muslims was 98.50% in 2013 and 99.75% in 2015. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims remains fixed at 99.3%; then the Muslim population is expected to increase to 66 million by 2050 and 165 million by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Niger
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 | 1,060 | 861.5 | 81.27% |
| 2000 | 11,422 | 11,344 | 99.32% |
| 2100 | 166,166 | 165,020 | 99.31% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.