Islam by country · Africa
Islam in Zambia: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Zambia, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Zambia in the interactive map
History of Islam in Zambia
The Republic of Zambia has an area of 752,618 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 3.5.10a. It was occupied by the British in 1891 and gained its independence from the UK in 1964 when it changed its name from Northern Rhodesia. Islam entered the eastern parts in the twelfth century with the influence of the Kilwa Sultanate and trade. The Muslim population estimate increased from 3,000 or 0.4% in 1911, to 4,900 or 0.3% in 1948. Based on census data, the Muslim population aged five-years and older increased from 15,000 or 0.3% in 1980, to 42,000 or 0.5% in 2000, and 61,000 or 0.5% in 2010.
Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will continue to increase by 0.05 of a percentage point per decade, then the Muslim population is expected to exceed quarter a million or 0.7% by 2050 and half a million or 1.0% by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Zambia
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 | 1,272 | 4.71 | 0.37% |
| 2000 | 9,750 | 43.88 | 0.45% |
| 2100 | 63,445 | 602.7 | 0.95% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.