Over the past few years, the Pew Research Center has covered extensively the demography of the European Muslim population. In November 2017, the report “Europe’s growing Muslim population ” revealed that the Muslim population in Europe is set to increase, independently from new migratory flows. Nevertheless, the extent of the migratory phenomenon keeps being a relevant factor in explaining the potential size of the future Muslim population. According to the Pew Center’s data, as of 2016, some 4,9 percent of Europe’s population could be estimated to be Muslim (see Methodology note, below).

Figure 1 shows EU countries according to their share of Muslim population. Cyprus (25.4 percent), Bulgaria (11.1), France (8.8) and Sweden (8.1) top the ranking. On the contrary, Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania are characterised by a dismissal percentage of Muslim population (closely followed by other Eastern and Baltic countries, with the exception of Portugal).

Combining shares of population and attitudes

In October 2018 Pew released a new report dealing with the attitudes of European countries towards minorities . The report provides as well data on the attitudes of EU countries’ citizens towards Muslims. More in detail, to capture attitudes, researchers asked interviewe