Recently, I was researching the distribution of Muslims around the world and found some quite fascinating data. Generally, people tend to think that the Middle East is the center of Islam, but that's actually not the case at all.

In reality, most of the countries with the largest Muslim populations are concentrated in South Asia and Southeast Asia. What’s especially surprising is Indonesia, which has over 240 million Muslims, overwhelmingly more than any other country. Next are Pakistan with 235 million and India with 213 million.

Looking at the rankings, the top 10 countries with the largest Muslim populations are a mix of Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. Countries like Bangladesh with 150 million, Nigeria with 124 million, and Egypt with 104 million show a wide geographical spread. While Iran with 88 million and Turkey with 84 million are indeed populous in the Middle East, the scale in Asia is even larger.

From the perspective of countries with large Muslim populations, it’s interesting that high population ratios and absolute numbers don’t always align. For example, Yemen and Somalia have nearly 100% of their populations as Muslims, but in terms of absolute numbers, they fall far behind Indonesia and Pakistan.

This data is based on the Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey, so I think it’s quite reliable. To understand the global distribution of countries with large Muslim populations, it’s important to look at such statistics. Geopolitically and religiously, the influence of this region is likely to grow even more in the future.