Islam in Seychelles: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Seychelles

The Republic of Seychelles has an area of 455 sq km consisting of 116 islands spread over 1.4 million sq km of the Southwest Indian Ocean. The largest islands are Mahé (155 sq km) with over 85% of the population and where the capital Victoria is located, Aldabra (129 sq km), Praslin (38 sq km), Silhouette (20 sq km) and La Dique (10 sq km). A map of these islands is presented in Figure 3.6.6. The islands were occupied by the British in 1810 and gained their independence from the UK in 1976.

Islam entered here around mid-nineteenth century with labor workers brought by the British from India as part of the British indentured labor system. According to census data, the Muslim population increased from fifteen or 0.1% in 1871, to 68 or 0.4% in 1901, to 93 or 0.4% in 1911, to 132 or 0.3% in 1960, to 176 or 0.3% in 1971, to 328 or 0.5% in 1987, to 506 or 0.7% in 1994, to 866 or 1.1% in 2002, to 1,459 or 1.6% in 2010.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by 0.4 of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 3,000 or 3.2% by 2050 and 5,000 or 5.2% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Seychelles

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.