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Religious groups and nonreligion

Muslim communities in Bulgaria

Census 2001 Census 2011 Muslim communities 966,978 577,139 Sunni 112,801 546,004 Shia 30,516 27,407 Other Muslims - 3,728
The majority of Muslims in Bulgaria are ethnic Turks. The 2001 (...)

	Census 2001	Census 2011
Muslim communities	966,978	577,139
Sunni	112,801	546,004
Shia	30,516	27,407
Other Muslims	-	3,728

The majority of Muslims in Bulgaria are ethnic Turks. The 2001 census registered only 1.3% of the Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origins as Christians (5,425 Eastern Orthodox, 2,561 Catholic and 2,066 Protestant). There are also considerable numbers of Muslims of Bulgarian and Roma origins. According to the 2001 Census, 2.0% out of the ethnic Bulgarians and 27.9% out of the Roma belong to Islam.

The Bulgarian citizens of Roma origins reveal a high level of religious diversity. According to 2001 Census 48.7% of the Roma belong to Eastern Orthodoxy, 27.9% - to Islam and 6,6% - to Protestantism. The analysis of the data of 2001 explains the growth of the Protestant community in Bulgaria mostly by a mass Roma joining to evangelical churches.

The current ethnic composition of Bulgaria is presented in the table above. During the 2011 Census this section was not mandatory and 753,057 people skipped it. The table below presents only information about those who have mentioned their ethnicity. It also contains data about the main mother tongues (Bulgarian, Turkish, Romani).

D 16 December 2014 ADaniela Kalkandjieva

Further information

Further information: see the Mineurel website of information on religious minorities, concerning Bulgaria.

Further information: see the Mineurel website of information on religious minorities, concerning Bulgaria.

D 31 March 2015