Interesting fact: when talking about the Muslim world, people often picture the Middle East. But in reality, the picture is quite different. The vast majority of the largest Muslim countries are located elsewhere — in South and Southeast Asia.

It's even hard to believe: Indonesia alone is home to 242 million Muslims. That’s more than all Arab countries combined. For comparison — Saudi Arabia, often called the heart of Islam, has only 29 million.

The top 10 countries by Muslim population are: Indonesia (242M), Pakistan (235M), India (213M), Bangladesh (29M), Nigeria (124M), Egypt (104M), Iran (88M), Turkey (84M), Sudan (46M), and Algeria (43M).

Next come Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Morocco, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Tanzania, Malaysia, and other countries. In total, there are a significant number of Muslim countries worldwide — and their geographic distribution is much more diverse than it might seem at first glance.

It’s especially interesting that China also has about 25 million Muslims, although that accounts for only 1.4% of the population. In Ethiopia, Muslims make up 31% (37M), and in Tanzania — 34% (22M).

The data is based on research from Pew Research Center. It turns out that the geography of the Muslim world should be represented quite differently — it’s not only the Middle East, but also huge communities in Asia, Africa, and other regions.