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Islam is the largest and the state religion of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. [1][2] According to the 2022 census, Bangladesh had a population of about 150 million Muslims, or 91.04% [3] of its total population of 165 million. [4] Muslims of Bangladesh are predominant native Bengali Muslims.
Muslims are the predominant community of the country and they form the majority of the population in all eight divisions of Bangladesh. The overwhelming majority of Bangladeshi Muslims are Bengali Muslims at 88 percent, but a small segment about 2 percent of them are Bihari Muslims and Rohingyas.
Islam is the dominant religion in Bangladesh, and its adherents constitute 83.4% of the total population. The introduction of Islam in the Bengal region dates to as early as the 13th Century. Arab and Persian missionaries and merchants were responsible for the conversions to Islam.
Ethnic minorities concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and northern districts generally practice a non-Islamic faith. The Garo in Mymensingh are predominantly Christian, as are some of the Santal in Gaibandha. Most Buddhists are members of the indigenous (non-Bengali) populations of the CHT.
The ruling Awami League party is secular, but rising Islamic conservatism has made religious minorities feel insecure, says Mubashar Hasan of Western Sydney University.
The remainder of the population is predominantly Christian, with approximately 400,000 Roman Catholics, and approximately one million Theravada-Hinayana Buddhists. The country also has small numbers of Shia Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims, Baha’is, animists, ISKCON members, agnostics, and atheists.
Shiite Muslims perform a ritual as they take part in a religious procession during the Ashura mourning period in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Oct. 1, 2017. The fall of Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian ...
