Interesting fact: when people talk about Islam, they usually think of the Middle East, but that's not entirely accurate. If you look at the map of the world's Muslim population, the picture is quite different — most believers live in South and Southeast Asia.

Here are the top countries by Muslim population:

Indonesia leads by a huge margin — 242 million people (87% of the population). That’s more than all Arab countries combined. Pakistan is second with 235 million (96%), India ranks third with 213 million, although that’s only 15% of its population. Bangladesh (25M, 91%), Nigeria (690M, 54%), Egypt (104M, 95%) — this is the breakdown in the top 6.

Next come Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries with smaller populations. Interestingly, about 25 million Muslims live in China, which is only 1.4% of the population.

If you sum only the top 3 countries, it totals over 690 million people — a huge part of the Muslim world. And considering that Muslim countries cover vast territories from Indonesia to Morocco, it’s clear how diverse and widespread this religious community is on the planet.

Data from Pew Research Center (2025) and Visual Capitalist.