Statistics South Africa’s Census 2022 counts roughly 930 000 Muslims in South Africa — about 1.6% of a population of 62 million.

It is the first national count of religion in more than two decades, and it matters for a reason beyond curiosity: the 2011 census did not ask about religion at all.

Muslims in South Africa, Census by Census

Shares are as reported by Stats SA; rounding in the published tables means the count and the percentage do not divide exactly.

Growing Faster Than the Country

Between 1996 and 2022 South Africa’s population grew by around 50%, from 40.6 million to 62 million.

Over the same period the Muslim population grew by almost 70%, from 554 000 to 930 000 — which is why the share moved from 1.4% to 1.6% rather than standing still.

It is a small community by proportion and a substantial one by number. Both facts get used selectively, and both are worth holding at once.

Why the Question Was Asked at All

SAMNET made representations to Statistics South Africa for religion to be included in the national census, on the argument that you cannot understand the diversity and the needs of a country’s people while declining to ask about something that shapes how millions of them live.

The 2011 gap is the illustration. For eleven years there was no official answer to a basic question about who lives here — which meant every claim about the size of any faith community, including hostile ones, was an estimate nobody could check.

This is the same argument SAMNET makes about an Islamophobia register, and it is the same argument the organisation makes about recording Nikahs: a community that is not counted is a community that can be described by anyone, in any terms they choose.

Explore Census 2022 on the Stats SA site →

Figures from Statistics South Africa, Census 2022. Shared by the South African Muslim Network. info@samnet.co.za