Islam by country · Africa
Islam in Sierra Leone: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Sierra Leone, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Sierra Leone in the interactive map
History of Islam in Sierra Leone
The Republic of Sierra Leone has an area of 71,740 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.2.11a. It was occupied by the British in 1787 and gained its independence from the UK in 1961. Islam entered here in the eighteenth century through preachers from neighboring Guinea. Estimates of the Muslim population increased from half a million or 32.1% in 1911, to 0.8 million or 35.0% in 1963, to 2.1 million or 60.0% in 1985. According to census data, the number of Muslims increased to 3.8 million or 76.7% in 2004 and 5.5 million or 77.0% in 2015.
Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by a half of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to near eleven million or 79% by 2050 and near fourteen million or 82% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Sierra Leone
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 | 1,024 | 328.4 | 32.06% |
| 2000 | 4,485 | 3,439 | 76.68% |
| 2100 | 16,973 | 13,833 | 81.50% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.