In October 2009, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a study on the size and distribution of the world’s Muslim population. Check out the statistics below to test your knowledge of how many Muslims are in the world and where they live.

1. Muslims account for what percentage of the world’s population?

a. 2%
b. 16%
c. 23%
d. 42%

Answer: c. 23%. There are approximately 1.57 billion Muslims in the world today, almost ¼ of the world’s population of 6.8 billion.

2. True or False: Muslims live on all five of the inhabited continents.

Answer: True.

3. The largest number of Muslims can be found in...
a. The Middle East
b. Asia
c. Africa
d. Europe

Answer: b. Asia. Although many Middle Eastern countries have high percentages of Muslims, Asia claims the highest number, accounting for 60% of the world’s Muslims.

4. Which country has the largest number of Muslims?
a. Indonesia
b. Turkey
c. Iran
d. India

Answer: a. Indonesia has over 200 million Muslims.

5. True or False: More than 300 million Muslims live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion.

Answer: True. About 1/5 of all Muslims are in the religious minority in their home country.

So, how did you do? How do you think these statistics could impact how and where we reach Muslims?