Islam in Romania: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Romania

The first Muslims settled down in Dobruja in 1263, which is an area between the Black Sea and the Danube River shared between Romania and Bulgaria. The group consisted of over 10,000 Anatolian Turkomans led by Sari Saltik [ROH]. The first group of Tatars settled here as part of the Golden Horde Empire during the time of its leader Noghai (1280-1313). The whole empire came under Muslim control when Sultan Mohammed Öz-Beg accepted Islam before taking the throne of the Golden Horde and ruled it from 1313 to 1341. He adopted Islam as the state’s religion and continued the spread Islam among the Turkic people. The leaders of the Golden Horde remained Muslim afterwards. The Ottoman Empire conquered Dobruja in 1411, then Wallachia (which includes the current Capital Bucharest) in 1416, then Transylvania (Northwest of current Romania) in 1419. Romania remained under Muslim control until it declared its independence from the ailing Ottoman Empire in 1878. Currently, Romania has an area of 238,391 sq km

The birth of current Romania started with the union of Wallachia (71,225 sq km) and Moldavia (46,988 sq km) in 1859, covering less than half of current Romania, and had 1,323 Muslims or 0.03% of its population in 1859. The Muslim population increased to 45,000 or 0.3% in 1899 after the annexation of Northern Dobruja (15,500 sq km) in 1878; the Romanian lands on the Black Sea and referred to in Romania as Dobrogea. The Muslim population then increased to 46,000 or 0.6% in 1912. Romania occupied Southern Dobruja (7,565 sq km) from Bulgaria between 1913 and 1940. By the end of WWI in 1918, Romania almost doubled its size by acquiring Southern Bukovina (10,438 sq km) from Austria (northern part is with Ukraine), Banat (28,513 sq km), Transylvania (57,788 sq km), eastern part of Crişana (20,818 sq km) and southern part of Maramureș (16,208 sq km) from Hungary and Bessarabia (44,408 sq km) from Russia. The census of 1930 counted 185,486 Muslims or 1.0% out of the total population of 18,057,028. Most of these or 129,025 were living in Southern Dobruja which is part of Bulgaria since 1940 and is referred to in Bulgaria as Dobrudzha. Another 148 was in Basarabia, which is now Moldova and parts of Ukraine. Northern Dobruja had 38,132 Muslims. Thus, in current Romania, there were 43,000 or 0.3% in 1930.

These historical regions that were ruled by different countries are:

• Dobrogea or Southern Dobruja is now organized as the counties of Constanța and Tulcea, with a total area of 15,570 sq km. The vast majority of Muslims live in the south of this region or Constanța County. The Muslim population here changed from 48,000 or 34% in 1880, to 42,000 or 22% in 1890, to 40,000 or 16% in 1900, to 41,000 or 11% in 1912, to 38,000 or 9% in 1930, to 52,000 or 5% in 1992 and 2002, to 47,000 or 6% in 2011. Thus, the Muslim population remined similar in number but decreased significantly in percentage with respect to the rest of the population in Dobrogea.
• Wallachia is now organized as Bucharest Municipality and the counties of Argeș, Brăila, Buzău, Călărași, Dâmbovița, Dolj, Giurgiu, Gorj, Ialomița, Ilfov, Mehedinți, Olt, Prahova, Teleorman and Vâlcea, with a total area of 76,381 sq km. The number of Muslims here changed from 4,000 in 1930, to 2,800 in 1992, 11,500 in 2002, to 13,000 in 2011. Most are living in the capital city of Bucharest.
• Moldavia is now organized as the counties Bacău, Botoșani, Galați, Iași, Neamț, Vaslui, and Vrancea, with a total area of 37,620 sq km. The number of Muslims in Wallachia and Moldavia remained negligible in the nineteenth century, increasing from 1,300 in 1860, to 4,100 in 1890, to 4,300 in 1900, to 5,000 in 1912. The number of Muslim changed from 500 in 1930, to 300 in 1992, to 1,100 in 2002, to 1,200 in 2011.
• Transylvania (including Banat, Eastern Crişana and Southern Maramureș) is now organized as the counties of Alba, Arad, Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brașov, Caraș-Severin, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Maramureș, Mureș, Satu Mare, Sălaj, Sibiu, and Timiș with a total area of 100,287 sq km. The Hungarian census showed that the Muslim population here increased from none in 1850, to 22 in 1870, to four in 1880, to 110 in 1910. The presence of Muslims remains negligible in this region, however. The Romanian census showed an increase to 419 in 1930, then 534 in 1992, then 2,425 in 2002 and 3,416 in 2011.
• Southern Bukovina is mostly under Soceava County with a total area of 8,553 sq km. The Austrian census showed that the Muslim population here increased from none in 1850, to twelve in 1880, to three in 1890 and 1900, to six in 1910. The presence of Muslims remains negligible in this region, however. The Romanian census showed a slight increase to 49 in 1930, thirteen in 1992, eighty in 2002 and 81 in 2011.

The combined data for Romania in its current borders is summarized in Table 4.1.9b. Accordingly, the Muslim population in Romania changed from 49,000 or 0.6% in 1880, to 46,000 or 0.5% in 1890, to 45,000 in 1900, to 47,000 or 0.4% in 1912, to 43,000 or 0.3% in 1930. Due to communism rule, religious affiliation was not inquired in censuses between 1948 and 1977, but ethnic affiliation was collected. Thus, we infer religious adherence from ethnicity in 1948 to 1977, by assuming all and only Turks and Tatar were Muslim. The numbers of both ethnicities per census year are summarized in Table 4.1.9c. Accordingly, Muslims decreased further to 0.2% from 1948 to 1977, numbering between 29,000 and 47,000. They remained at 0.3% since 1992, numbering 56,000 in 1992, then 67,000 in 2002, and 64,000 in 2011.

The 2002 and 2011 Censuses showed that 97% of Turks and 99% of Tatar are Muslim. In addition, over two-thirds of all Muslims live in Constanta County on the Black Sea, 72% in 2002, and 67% in 2011. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by 0.01 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to remain just over 50,000 or around 0.4% of the total population throughout the second half of this century.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Romania

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.