Islam by country |
---|
![]() |
![]() |
Islam by country |
---|
![]() |
![]() |
Part of a series on |
Albanians |
---|
![]() |
|
Islam arrived in Albania mainly during the Ottoman period when the majority of Albanians over time converted to Islam under Ottoman rule, but Islam was introduced to Albanians back in the 8th century during trades. Following the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) tenets and the de-emphasis of religious tradition in Albania, all governments in the 20th century pursued a secularization policy, most aggressively under the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. Due to this policy, Islam, as with all other faiths in the country, underwent radical changes. Decades of state atheism, which ended in 1991, brought a decline in the religious practice of all traditions. The post-communist period and the lifting of legal and other government restrictions on religion allowed Islam to revive through institutions that generated new infrastructure, literature, educational facilities, international transnational links and other social activities.[2]
According to the March 2024 polls conducted by the IRI for the Western Balkans, 65% of Albania's population identifies as Muslim, 13% as Orthodox, 11% as Catholic, 6% as Atheist, 1% as Agnostic, 2% as having no religious affiliation, 1% did not provide an answer, less than 1% as Protestant, and less than 1% as other Christian denominations.[3]
According to the 2023 census, there were 1,101,718 (45.86%) Sunni Muslims and 115,644 (4.81%) Bektashi Muslims. The remaining population consists of 201,530 (8.38%) Catholics, 173,645 (7.22%) Eastern Orthodox, 9,658 (0.4%) Evangelicals, 3 670 (0.15%) of other religions, 332,155 (13.82%) believers without denomination, 85,311 (3.55%) Atheists and 378,782 (15.76%) did not provide an answer.[4] This represents a 22% decline of the faith since 1945.
Elbasani347353
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search