Nigeria Holds The Largest Population Of Christians In Africa

April 25, 2016

National Church of Nigeria, Christians in Africa, Christians in Nigeria, Nigerian Christians — *Photo/Moises/Flickr — The National Church of Nigeria, Abuja*

Christians in Africa continues to increase in numbers although Christianity is an adopted religion in the continent. One thing remains clear amidst data collation and statistics, that is the fact that the spread of the religion bears witness to the scripture.

Research has shown that Christianity is the world’s Largest religion. Although, a decline in Christianity has been recorded in the USA in recent years, the religion continues to grow fast with 2.2 billion Christians in the world as at 2014, according to Pew Research Centre, and it is expected to exceed 3 billion followers by 2050 if current trend continues.

In Nigeria, the domination of Christian population reflects the world trend. 85 million persons belong to the church with various denominations distributed across the country and concentration in the southern, also central region of country. This makes Nigeria hold the largest number of Christians in Africa, according to Pews Research Centre.

The numbers of Christians in Nigeria have grown from 21.4% in 1953 to 49.3% in 2010. In 2015, a study estimates some 600,000 believers in Christ are from a Muslim background living in the country inspite of the violence towards non-muslim especially in the north where muslims are more concentrated.

The 85 million Christians in Nigeria also amount to the largest number in Africa and it is expected to grow between 2010 and 2015 to an estimate of about 154, 840, 000, a percentage of about 5.3% frrom its 4.9% in 2010. Though there were a large number of Christians living in Nigeria in 2010, they were slightly less than half of Nigeria’s population. Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia follows Nigeria with 63,210,000 (2.9%) and 52,070,000 (2.4%) respectively in 2010. However, in 2014, South Africa showed rapid growth with 36.04% of Christians.

The statistics also puts Nigeria at 6 amongst the top 10 countries with the largest number of Christians with United States sitting at the top of the list with 243,060,000 Christians. Followed by Brazil and Mexico with 173,300,000 and 107,910,000 respectively.

In the Northern part of Nigeria, violence towards non-Muslims has increased. Relations with Muslims have been strained, killings of Christians have been rampant since at least 1999 such as the 2010 Jos riots which saw clashes between Muslim herders against Christian farmers near the volatile city of Jos. Officials estimated that 500 people were massacred in night-time raids by rampaging Muslim gangs. Also, on Christmas Day in 2011, the Islamist sect Boko Haram bombed a catholic church near the nation’s capital Abuja killing over 30 people. The BBC reported that on Christmas Eve 2012 six Christians were killed and their church burned down. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack but the broadcaster drew comparisons with similar attacks carried out by Boko Haram at the same time in 2011.

Percentage of Christians in Africa by Country [2014]


Algeria	38.3	0.6 %	0.23
Angola	21.6	75 %	16.20
Benin	9.6	30 %	2.88
Botswana	1.9	50 %	0.95
Burkina Faso	18	23.2 %	4.18
Burundi	10.9	65 %	7.09
Cameroon	20.5	40 %	8.60
Cape Verde	0.5	93 %	0.47
Central African Rep.	4.7	50 %	2.35
Chad	12.2	25 %	3.05
Comoros	0.8	0.75 %	0.01
Congo Republic	4.4	50 %	2.20
Congo, Democratic Republic	71.1	80 %	56.88
Djibouti	0.9	1 %	0.01
Egypt	84.7	6 %	5.08
Equatorial Guinea	0.8	69 %	0.55
Eretria	5.8	40 %	2.32
Ethiopia	89.2	40 %	35.68
Gabon	1.6	73 %	1.17
Gambia	1.9	9 %	0.17
Ghana	26.1	24 %	6.26
Guinea	11.8	8 %	0.94
Guinea Bissau	1.7	5 %	0.09
Ivory Coast	21.1	30 %	6.33
Kenya	44.4	60 %	26.52
Lesotho	2.2	80 %	1.76
Liberia	4.2	40 %	1.76
Libya	6.5	1 %	0.07
Madagascar	22.5	41 %	9.23
Malawi	16.3	50 %	8.15
Mali	15.5	5 %	0.78
Mauritania	3.7	0.14 %	0.01
Mauritius	1.3	32.2 %	0.42
Mayotte	0.2	3 %	0.01
Morocco	33.6	0.05 %	0.02
Mozambique	24.3	42 %	10.21
Namibia	2.4	90 %	2.16
Niger	16.9	0.34 %	0.06
Nigeria	173.6	40 %	69.44
Rwanda	11.1	84 %	9.32
Reunion	0.8	86 %	0.69
Sao Tome & Principe	0.2	97 %	0.19
Seychelles	0.1	96 %	0.10
Senegal	13.5	5 %	0.68
Sierra Lione	6.2	30 %	1.86
Somalia	10.4	0 %	0.00
South Africa	53	68 %	36.04
Sudan	34.2	1.5 %	0.51
Swaziland	1.2	55 %	0.66
Tanzania	49.1	50 %	24.55
Togo	6.2	29 %	1.80
Tunisia	10.9	0.2 %	0.02
Uganda	34.5	65 %	22.43
Zambia	14.2	85 %	12.07
Zimbabwe	13	70 %	9.10
Total	1051.4		420.18