Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Mapping the Global Muslim Population

Americas Overview

Map: Distribution of Muslim Population in the Americas

Of the approximately 4.6 million Muslims in the Americas, which includes 51 countries and territories, more than half, or about 2.5 million, live in the United States.1 But Canada has more than double the percentage of Muslims in the United States. Two percent of Canadians, about 700,000 people, are Muslim; in contrast, 0.8% of the U.S. population is Muslim.

Suriname is the country in the region with the largest Muslim population percentage, at about 16%. Guyana is next, at about 7% Muslim, and Trinidad and Tobago is about 6% Muslim. Argentina, with about 800,000 Muslims, is home to the largest number of Muslims in South America. Less than 1% of Mexico’s population is Muslim.

Countries in the Americas with the Largest Number of Muslims

Estimated 2009 Muslim Population Percentage of Population that is Muslim Percentage of World Muslim Population
United States 2,454,000 0.8% 0.2%
Argentina 784,000 1.9 0.1
Canada 657,000 2.0 <0.1
Brazil 191,000 0.1 <0.1
Mexico* 110,000 <1 <1
Venezuela 94,000 0.3 <0.1
Suriname 83,000 15.9 <0.1
Trinidad and Tobago 78,000 5.8 <0.1
Guyana 55,000 7.2 <0.1
Panama 24,000 0.7 <0.1
Rest of Region 67,000 <0.1 <0.1
Regional Total 4,596,000 0.5 0.3
World Total 1,571,198,000 22.9 100.0
* Data for Mexico come primarily from general population surveys, which are less reliable than censuses or large-scale demographic and health surveys for estimating minority-majority ratios (see Methodology). As a result, the percentage of the population that is Muslim in Mexico is rounded to the nearest integer.Note: Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life • Mapping the Global Muslim Population, October 2009

Map: Distribution of Muslim Population in the Americas

Roll over a country bubble to see its estimated 2009 Muslim population, the percentage of its population that is Muslim and the percentage of the world Muslim population it represents.

[embeded: src=”https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2009/10/I_americas_map.swf” width=”560px” height=”618″ ]

* Indicates the use of a source with a small enough sample size to make these estimates somewhat less reliable. Due to this greater margin of error, percentages are rounded to the nearest integer rather than to the first decimal place and are therefore more approximate (~).

Countries where the number of Muslims is too small to be reliably estimated not shown.


Footnote

1 There has been considerable debate over the exact number of Muslims in the United States. The 2.5 million figure is a projection for 2009 based on the Pew Research Center’s 2007 survey “Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream” and available Census Bureau data, adjusted for U.S. population growth. For a discussion of the larger debate, see http://pewresearch.org/pubs/532/questions-muslim-survey.

Icon for promotion number 1

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Fresh data delivery Saturday mornings

Icon for promotion number 1

Sign up for The Briefing

Weekly updates on the world of news & information