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Islam in Germany

overview of the role and presence of Islam in Germany

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ567314 ↗
Source-derived summary

Islam's significance in Germany increased after the labour migration in the 1960s and several waves of political refugees since the 1970s. In

2025, there were 6.6– 7 million Muslims with a migrant background in Germany (8 to 8.5% of the population), in addition to Muslims who do not fit into that category.

According to a 2025 estimate by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, between 6.6 and 7.0 million Muslims with a migration background from Muslim-majority countries lived in Germany, corresponding to around 8.0 to 8.5% of the total population.

A similar survey in 2016 estimated a number of 4.4–4.7 million Muslims with a migrant background (5.4 – 5.7% of the population) at that time. A survey in 2009 estimated a total number of up to 4.3 million Muslims in Germany. There are also higher estimates: according to the German Islam Conference, Muslims represented 7% of the population in Germany in 2012.

In 2014, it was estimated that 20,000-100,000 Germans converted to Islam, numbers comparable to those in France and in the United Kingdom.

Methodological issues

Germany does not register the religion of individuals in a centralized or mandatory system. Religious affiliation is only recorded if a person is a registered member of a recognized religious community, such as for purposes of church tax ("Kirchensteuer"). Many people of Muslim background in Germany are not affiliated with a mosque or Islamic organization, and may be secular, agnostic, atheist, or have converted to another religion.

Editorial summary

“Islam in Germany” enters the record as overview of the role and presence of Islam in Germany. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Islam, Germany and overview can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2025, 2016, 2009, 2012—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Islam, Germany and overview.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Islam in Germany” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Islam, Germany and overview provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q567314. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2025, 2016, 2009 and 2012.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Islam in Germany”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Islam in Germany primary sources, Islam in Germany archive and Islam research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Islam in Germany” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.