Bhutan
Bhutan is located between India and China in South Asia. The ethnic distribution of the country's population is 50% Ngalop (Bhote), 35% Nepalese, and 15% indigenous or migrant tribes.
Bhutan is a country that has adopted Buddhism as the official religion. In a country where three-quarters of the population is Buddhist, the second most common religion is Hinduism. Although it is known that Islam has reached South Asia since early times, information on the Bhutanese region is rather limited. Yet, it is clear that the Muslim presence in Bhutan has a long history of hundreds of years.
Today, the Muslim population in the country is not known precisely. Although the data from Western research companies show that the number of Muslims in the country is around 7 thousand, it is safe to say that many more Muslims are living in Bhutan than this number. Realistically, it is safe to assume that the number of Muslims in the country is at least 10 thousand and which is more than 1% of the population.
In recent years, the Buddhist persecution of Muslims in the South Asian region has forced Muslims to either remain in hiding or leave the country and migrate to neighboring countries. When the Buddhist persecution of Arakan Muslims in Myanmar and Patanese Muslims in Thailand, as well as the hostile policies towards Muslims in India and China, are considered, it becomes clear that Bhutan is located in the middle of one of the most problematic geographies in the world for Muslims. However, due to its small size and the small population of Muslims, Bhutanese Muslims are not on the agenda of the Islamic world.
