Islam by country · Africa
Islam in Tunisia: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Tunisia, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Tunisia in the interactive map
History of Islam in Tunisia
The Tunisian Republic has an area of 163,610 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.1.10. It was taken by France from the Ottoman Empire in 1881 and gained its independence from France in 1956. Islam entered here in 27H/647AD during the reign of the third Muslim Caliph, Othman bnu Affan. The Muslim troops were under the leadership of Abdullah bnu Saad bnu Abi Sarh.
Estimates of the Muslim population increased from 1.43 million or 95.3% in 1877, to 1.62 million or 95.3% in 1895. Based on census data and as shown in Table 3.1.10, the Muslim population increased from 1.7 million or 89.7% in 1911, to 1.9 million or 88.3% in 1921, to 1.9 million or 87.4% in 1926, to 2.4 million or 88.9% in 1931, to 2.3 million or 87.6% in 1936, to 2.8 million or 88.2% in 1946, to 3.4 million or 90.2% in 1956, to 4.5 million or 99.3% in 1966. The post-independence increase in percentage is due to the migration of the Jewish population and European colonizers. According to Afro Barometer Survey (ABS), the percentage of Muslims was 99.75% in 2015. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will remain fixed at 99.75%, then the Muslim population is expected to be around fourteen million throughout the second half of this century.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Tunisia
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 | 1,900 | 1,705 | 89.74% |
| 2000 | 9,842 | 9,817 | 99.75% |
| 2100 | 13,554 | 13,520 | 99.75% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.