Islam in Palau: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Palau

The Republic of Palau gained independence in 1994 from the US administered UN Trust of Pacific Islands, which it was under since 1947. It has an area of 416 sq km spread over 0.6 million sq km of the east Pacific. Palau consists of more than 340 islands, of which only eight are inhabited. These are Babeldaob (331 sq km) with almost a third of the total population and where the capital Ngerulmud is located, Koror (18 sq km) where the former capital Koror is located until 2006 and almost two-thirds of the total population, Peliliu (12 sq km), Angaur (9 sq km), Hatohobei, Helen Reef, Kayangel, Pulo Anna and Sonsorol.

In the 1990s, the number of Muslims increased due to the import of foreign workers. Most of Muslims are from Bangladesh. According to official statistics, the number of Muslims (Bangladeshis) changed from none in 1990 and before, to 47 or 0.3% in 1995, to 200 or 1.0% in 2000, to 425 or 2.1% in 2005, to 600 or 2.9% in 2010. The number of recorded Muslims increased from 524 or 3.0% in 2015 to 672 or 3.8% in 2020. Almost all were male, with twelve females in 2015 and nine females in 2020. They are located in all major islands but three; Kayangel, Sonsorol and Hatohobei, but more than half of the Muslim population (303 in 2015 and 426 in 2020) live in Koror.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by one percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to increase to 1,200 or 7% in 2050 and 1,700 or 12% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Palau

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.