The Muslim world is a term given to the world-wide community of those who adhere to the religion of Islam, known as Muslims, and who number approximately one-and-a-half billion people. Many Muslims not only live in, but also have an official status in the following regions:

Organization of the Islamic Conference Member States

• Southwest Asia: Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and non-Arab countries like Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran

• Africa: North African countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sub-Saharan countries like Mali, Nigeria or Somalia.

• The Balkans: countries like Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Eastern Europe: parts of Russia and Ukraine (especially in the Crimea).

• Central Asia: Afghanistan, formerly Soviet states like Uzbekistan

• South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Maldives

• Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia

The countries of Southwest Asia, and many in Northern Africa are considered part of the Middle East.

Also worthy of mention are provinces of Kosovo and Chechnya, where Muslims are in the majority.

Some definitions would also include the sizable Muslim minorities in:

• several countries of the European Union, (especially France)

• several regions of the Russian Federation

• northwestern India,

• People's Republic of China

• Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines,

• U.S.A. and Canada.

Like Christians or Buddhists, there is no single Muslim race; the world's Muslims are connected only by the common heritage of a religion.

Demographics

One quarter of the world population share Islam as an ethical tradition. Muslims are the majority in 52 nations. They speak about 60 languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

• 3-11 million Muslims in the Americas (estimates vary greatly)

  • 2.5-8 million Muslims in Canada and the United States

  • <1-3 million Muslims in Latin and Central America

• 84 million Muslims in Europe (including Turkey)

  • 10 million Muslims in Western Europe, mostly in the UK, France, Germany

  • 7 million Muslims in the Balkans, mostly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania and Republic of Macedonia

  • 67 million Muslims in Turkey

• 284 million Muslims in the Arab League including Iraq (with about 15 million Shia, 60% of the population in Iraq)

• 254 million Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa

• 67 million Muslims (90% of them Shia) in Iran

• 103 million Muslims in Central Asia

  • 49 million Muslims in the former republics of the Soviet Union: Central Asia - in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan

  • 26 million Muslims in Russia

  • 28 million Muslims in Afghanistan

• 420 million Muslims in South Asia

  • 156 million Muslims in Pakistan

  • 127 million Muslims in Bangladesh

  • 137 million Muslims in India

• 289 million Muslims in East Asia

  • 50 million Muslims in China

  • 209 million Muslims in Indonesia (the largest National Muslim community in the world)

  • 30 million Muslims in the rest of South-East Asia, especially Malaysia

  • A few in Japan, Mongolia, North Korea or the South Pacific

• Close to 1.5 billion in total.

Additional information may be found at the following websites:

http://islam.about.com/library/weekly/aa120298.htm

http://www.islamicity.com/Mosque/uiatm/un_islam.htm