Islam is the largest religious minority in Europe and one of its fastest-growing faiths. Yet estimates of how many Muslims live on the continent vary, partly because many countries do not record religion in their censuses. This article gathers what the main sources suggest about the size, distribution and remarkable diversity of Muslim communities in Europe.
A small but growing share
The Pew Research Center estimated Europe's Muslim population at about 44 million in 2010, projected to reach roughly 58 million by 2030. As a share of the continent's people, that was around 6% in 2010, rising toward perhaps 8% by 2030, still a clear minority overall, but larger in some Western and Northern European countries. Pew's projections suggested that several countries would approach or pass 10% by 2030: France (from about 7.5% toward 10.3%), Belgium, Sweden and Austria among them, with the United Kingdom rising from roughly 4.6% toward 8%. These are projections, and the exact figures should be treated with caution.
Where Europe's Muslims live
In absolute numbers, the largest Muslim populations in Europe are found in Russia, France and Germany, followed by the United Kingdom and others. In France, the national statistics institute (Insee) found in its 2019–2020 survey that Islam had become the country's second religion, reported by around 10% of adults aged 18 to 59. Germany and the United Kingdom also host communities numbering in the millions. Because definitions and survey methods differ, comparing one country's figure directly with another's requires care.
A tapestry of origins
What statistics can obscure is how diverse European Islam really is. Muslim communities largely trace their roots to each country's particular history of migration:
- In France, most Muslims have origins in the Maghreb, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, along with Turkey and the Sahel, reflecting former colonial ties.
- In the United Kingdom, a large share have South Asian roots, particularly in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- In Germany, the largest group traces its origins to Turkey, alongside communities from Southeastern Europe, Iran and elsewhere.
The 2017 Religion Monitor study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, surveying more than 10,000 people across several countries, underlines this diversity, and also finds strong integration. Language skills improve markedly with each generation, and large majorities of Muslims report feeling closely connected to the country they live in: around 96% in France, with similarly high figures in Germany and Switzerland.
Minority life and community
Living as a minority shapes Muslim life in Europe in ways it does not in Muslim-majority countries, from finding a place to pray to organising community life around a mosque. The global backdrop to these communities is set out in our articles on the Muslim population worldwide and the future of the Muslim population.
Europe's mosques are as varied as the communities that built them, from grand landmarks to a single rented room. Use MosqueFinder to find mosques across Europe, or open the the interactive map to explore them city by city.