Islam by country · Americas
Islam in Turks & Caicos: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Turks & Caicos, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Turks & Caicos in the interactive map
History of Islam in Turks & Caicos
It was conquered by the British in 1783 and remains an overseas territory of the UK. It was part of The Bahamas until it separated in 1848. It has an area of 948 sq km, consisting of seven inhabited islands and over three hundred much smaller islands. Over three-quarter of the population lives in the Island of Providenciales with an area of 122 sq km and locally referred to as Provo. Other inhabited islands are Grand Turk, 17 sq km with a sixth of the population, North Caicos (116 sq km) and South Caicos (21 sq km), with 4% of the population each, Middle Caicos (144 sq km), Salt Cay (7 sq km) and Parrot Cay (6 sq km).
According to census data, there were no Muslims in these islands before the start of this century. The 2012 census recorded forty Muslims or 0.1% of the total population. Their distribution was as follows: 26 in Provo, nine in North Caicos, five Muslims in Grand Turk and none in the other islands. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by a tenth of a percentage point per decade, then the Muslim population is expected to exceed 200 or 0.5% by 2050 and 500 or 1.0% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Turks & Caicos
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 | 5.35 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| 2000 | 18.36 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| 2100 | 55.63 | 0.556 | 1.00% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.