Islam in United Kingdom: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an island nation with a total area of 243,610 sq km, excluding fourteen overseas territories, and the three British Crown Dependencies: Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. The UK, for short, consists of the following four countries: England (130,395 sq km) with 84% of the population, Scotland (78,772 sq km) with 8% of the population, Wales (20,779 sq km) with 5% of the population, Northern Ireland (13,843 sq km) with 3% of the population.

The first notable Muslim presence in the UK was in the second half of the nineteenth century by Yemeni migrants from the city port of Aden, which was a British colony. By the twentieth century, Muslims settled from India near London. The Muslim population pre-WWI remained at 0.00% of the total population. It increased from 543 in 1901, to 715 in 1911. In the latter, it was distributed as follows: 681 in England, 25 in Scotland, nine in Wales. In Northern Ireland, census data indicate that the number of Muslims increased from none in the nineteenth century to three in 1901, to one in 1911 to less than ten in 1926, to fifty in 1937.

During the first half of the twentieth century, migrants settled in the UK from former British colonies with substantial Muslim population, including Cyprus, Egypt, and Iraq. Thus, the Muslim population reached 50,000 or 0.1% in 1939, just before the start of WWII.

The Muslim population picked up momentum after WWII, as the country needed more manpower, which was fulfilled with migration from former colonies that were gaining independence. Consequently, the Muslim population doubled to 100,000 or 0.2% in 1951, and again to 0.2 million or 0.4% in 1981 and 0.4 or 0.8% million in 1991. The 2001 census asked for the first time about religious affiliation. Thus, the number of Muslims reached 1.59 million or 2.9% in 2001 and 2.79 million or 4.8% in 2011. According to European Values Survey (EVS), the percentage of Muslims was 0.36% in 1981, 0.75% in 1990, 1.20% in 1999 and 4.43% in 2009.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by one percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach to exceed six million or 9% by 2050 and get close to ten million or 14% by 2100. Table 4.4.11b presents the distribution of Muslims per country within the union. According to census results, the vast majority of Muslim population, over 95% is concentrated in England.

Historical Muslim population dataset for United Kingdom

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.