Islam in Europe
by percentage of country population[1]
< 1%
MarinoSlovakia
1–2%
CroatiaIrelandUkraine
2–4%
LuxembourgSloveniaSpain
4–5%
ItalySerbia
5–10%
KingdomNorwayDenmark
10–20%
30–50%
Macedonia
50–70%
Bosnia–HerzegovinaAlbania
70–80%
Kazakhstan
90–100%
AzerbaijanKosovoTurkey
Islam is the second largest religious belief in Europe after Christianity.[citation needed] Although the majority of Muslim communities in Europe are of recent migrations, there are pre-Modern ones in the Balkans.
Islam entered southern Europe through the invading "Moors" of North Africa in the 8th–10th centuries; Muslim political entities existed firmly in what is today Spain, Portugal, South Italy and Malta for several centuries. The Muslim community in these territories was converted or expelled by the end of the 15th century (see Reconquista). Islam expanded into the Caucasus through the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The Ottoman Empire expanded into southeastern Europe, invading and conquering huge portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries. Over the centuries, the Ottoman Empire also gradually lost almost all of its European territories, until the empire collapsed in 1922. The countries of the Balkans continue to have large populations of native Muslims, though the majority are unobservant or secular.
The term "Muslim Europe" is used for the Muslim-majority countries of Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Transcontinental countries, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have large Muslim populations, as does Russia in the North Caucasus.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries substantial numbers of Muslims immigrated to Western Europe. By 2010 an estimated 44 million Muslims were living in Europe (6%), including an estimated 19 million in the EU (3.8%) They are projected to comprise 8% by 2030.[citation needed] They are often the subject of intense discussion and political campaigns. These have been periodically revived by events such as terrorist attacks by Islamists, the cartoons affair in Denmark, debates over Islamic dress, and ongoing support for populist right-wing parties that view Muslims as a threat to European values, culture and ways of life. Such events have also fueled growing debate regarding the topic of Islamophobia, attitudes toward Muslims and the populist right
