Islam in Ukraine: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Ukraine

Islam entered Ukraine in the thirteenth century as Tatars of the Golden Horde Empire started embracing Islam. The southern parts of Ukraine remained under Muslim rule through the Crimean Khanate, a successor of the Golden Horde in this region, until it was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1796. Thus, significant parts of Ukraine, especially the southern part, were under Muslim control for 483 years. For the next century and a half following the fall of the Crimean Khanate, the Muslims were subjugated to various forms of persecution and discrimination by the Russians. Before its fall, the Muslim Crimean Tatars constituted the vast majority (over 95%) of the population. However, due to Russian wars, many fled to the Ottoman Empire, or deported to Central Asia and Siberia.

In 1802, part of the Crimean Khanate became known as Turida (Tavrisheskaya) governorate, which included the Crimean Peninsula and about the same size into Ukraine Proper, which consisted of three Uyezds in the census of 1897: Berdyansky, Dneprovsky and Melitopoisky. By 1897, Muslims numbered 190,800 or 13% of the population of the Governorate. Almost all, or 188,832 lived in the Peninsula and made up 35% of its population.

In 1921, Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created by the Soviet Union within the Crimean Peninsula. Its Muslim population, almost all Crimean Tatars, increased in number but decreased in percentage from 184,355 or 26% in 1926, to 222,359 or 20% in 1939. The decrease is due to the Russian policy of settling many Russians and other non-Muslim ethnic groups in the peninsula, to change its demography.

In 1944, Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953, deported all Crimean Tatars from Crimea to Siberia and Uzbekistan, about half of whom perished in this process. Stalin falsely accused them all of collaborating with Nazi Germany. They were vindicated by the Russian state in 1956 but were not compensated or allowed to return to their homeland, safe few thousands by the end of 1960s. Crimea was abolished in 1945 and given to Ukraine in 1954. Thus, by 1959, the Muslim population was reduced to zero, and then increased to 6,479 or 0.4% in 1979, to 15,100 or 2% in 1989 as the Soviet Union neared its dissolution.

The Crimean Autonomous Republic within the Ukraine was re-established in the Crimean Peninsula in 1991, excluding the city of Sevastopol due to its strategic importance as a naval base. Crimean Tatars continued returning to their homeland, increasing the number of Muslims in the peninsula to 2.66 million or 11.1% in 2001, then 2.87 million or 12.5% in 2014 and 2.97 million or 13.3% in 2020. A summary of the change of the Muslim population in the Crimean Peninsula including Sevastopol

The Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and has an area of 603,550 sq km, including the Crimean Peninsula, which consists of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (26,100 sq km), and the Sevastopol City Council (1,079 sq km). In 2014, the latter two declared their independence and joined Russia as its ninth federal district. The move was not internationally recognized, and the Crimean Peninsula is still claimed but uncontrolled by Ukraine.

The 1897 Russian Empire census indicated that the Muslim population was 0.21 million or 0.9% of the total population of Ukraine in its current borders, including the Crimean Peninsula. This estimate is based on the data from the Governorates of Volynia, Ekaterynoslav, Kiev, Podolia, Poltava, Taurida, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernigov excluding the Uyezds of Mglinsky, Novozybkovsky, Starodubsky and Chernihiv which are in Russia, and the Uyezds of Akkerman, Izmail and Khotinsky of the Bessarabia Governorate, the rest of which is in Moldova.

Censuses in Ukraine since 1926 include ethnic demography, from which we can deduce religion. The largest thirty Muslim ethnicities in Ukraine starting with the largest in number are Tatar, Azeri, Uzbek, Turk, Arab, Kazakh, Lezghin, Tajik, Bashkir, Turkmen, Albanian, Chechen, Kurd, Darghin, Avar, Abkhaz, Kyrgyz, Lak, Afghan, Tabasaran, Kumyk, Kabardian, Ingush, Persian, Nogai, Adyghei, Balkar, Cherkes, Uighur and Karachay. The number of members of each of these ethnicities since 1926 is provided in Table 4.2.8b. Based on ethnic censuses, the Muslim population increased from 0.21 million or 0.7% in 1926, to 0.33 million or 1.0% in 1939, but decreased to 0.10 million or 0.3% in 1959 because of Stalin’s deportation of Crimean Tatars to Uzbekistan and Siberia after WWII. The Muslim population continued growing since then, increasing to 0.14 million or 0.3% in 1970, to 0.15 million or 0.3% in 1979, to 0.25 million or 0.5% in 1989, to 0.44 million or 0.9% in 2001. According to a 2007 DHS, this percentage increased to 1.0%.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by a tenth of a percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to increase to remain close to half a million for the rest of this century, increasing in percentage from 1% of the total population to 2% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Ukraine

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.