Islam in Asia Asia in 2010 was about 1.1 billion. Asia is home to the largest Muslim population, with West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia being particularly important regions. 62% of the world's Muslims live in Asia, with Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh having the four largest Muslim populations in the world. The spread of Islam outside of the Arabian peninsula and into other parts of the continent can be linked to the extensive trade routes connecting West Asia to China. In present time, it was said that India is the 1st or 2nd most populous Muslim country in the
Muslim world and African American Muslims later emerged independently. According to the UNHCR, Muslim-majority countries hosted 18 million refugees by the end of 2010. Since then Muslim nations have absorbed refugees from recent conflicts, including the uprising in Syria. In July 2013, the UN stated that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded 1.8 million. In some Muslim-majority countries, illiteracy is a problem, whereas in others literacy rates are high. In Egypt, the largest Muslim-majority Arab country, the youth female literacy rate exceeds that for males. Lower literacy rates are more prevalent in South Asian countries such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan,