The short answer
There are close to two billion Muslims, roughly one in four people on earth, making Islam the world’s second-largest religion. The largest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Only about a fifth of Muslims live in the Arab world.
A little more context
Muslims are a majority in around fifty countries and significant minorities in many others, including India, China, Russia, and across Europe and the Americas. The picture of Islam as a Middle Eastern religion is therefore misleading; it is a global faith with its demographic centre in South and Southeast Asia.
Sources & further reading
- Pew Research Center — The Changing Global Religious Landscape Population estimates by religion and region.
- Qur’an 49:13 Peoples and tribes made to know one another.
Original introductory summary, not a direct scripture translation. Prepared 21 October 2026. Qualified human religious review is pending. About our editorial approach.