Religions in Africa: Muslim population, concentration in countries & percentage

Africa is traditionally concerned the Muslim continent though the rapid rise of Christianity and active missionary work has led to followers of each of the two great Abrahamic religions today claiming higher number of adherents.

Asia is considered the Islamic continent because it has a majority of Muslims. In fact, Muslims dominate not just Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Indonesia & Malaysia in the far east except India that has a huge Hindu population (it also has 170 million Muslims) and China-Japan that have a high Buddhist-Shinto concentration.

However, it was traditionally Africa that was considered homeland for Muslims. The proximity with Saudi Arabia and the expansion of Islamic empire from Egypt to countries across Sahara desert turned Africa a Muslim continent.

List by major countries of Muslim population  in Africa

Country	Total population	Muslim percentage
Algeria	34 million	99%
Egypt	76 million	90%
Morocco	35 million	98%
Sudan	41 million	70%
Tunisia	10 million	98%
Chad	10 million	55%
Nigeria	150 million	50%
Libya	6 million	97%
Mauritania	3 million	100%
Burkina Faso	16 million	61%
Guinea	10 million	85%
Mali	13 million	90%
Senegal	14 million	95%
Niger	15 million	99%
Somalia	10 million	99%
Djibouti	0.5 million	99%
Sierra Leone	0.6 million	60%
Comoros	0.7 million	99%
Guinea Bissau	1 million	50%
Ethiopia*	88 million	33%

Though it continued to have a large population which continued to believe in animism, shamanism and ancestral rituals of worship. Almost all the major countries in Northern part of Africa are dominated by Islam though Southern part is more Christian.

The big countries including Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Chad, Somalia and Mali are predominantly Muslim with the percentage of Islamic population above 90% in most the countries. Statistics about Ethiopia, formerly Abyssinia, remain disputed though Islam was widely prevalent historically in this country.

Christianity is more popular in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Congo, Angola and Namibia. Though Tanzania, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ivory Coast are countries that also have very high Muslim density in terms of religious population.

Religious population in Africa

Of the around 6.8 billion population of the world, Africa accounts for around 1 billion. Nearly half of 1 billion, viz. 50 million population in Africa profess Islamic faith while Christians are also almost equally distributed. In fact, one or two researches show Christianity slightly ahead though it is disputed.

It is estimated that 45% of Africans profess Islam while Christianity has nearly 40% followers. In some countries Christian population figures have been exaggerated but there is a similar charge against Muslims also in some parts.

After all, the continent remains a battlefield for proselytizers including Muslims and Evangelists. The rest (around 5%) believe in traditional religions, local beliefs & polytheism. Hindus & Jews are found in some cities but there presence in overall population is too less.

Christian majority countries in Africa

Africa has around 50 countries, however, among the big countries that have higher Christian population include Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Congo, Cameroon, Zambia, Rwanda, Cote d' Ivory, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Benin.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa but it has nearly equal Muslims and Christians. Ethiopia is now considered a country where Christians outnumber Muslims but Islam is still strong with over 35% followers. The study of religious distribution suggests that while in North and West Africa Islam dominates, Christianity has more numbers in parts of middle and Southern Africa.

Christian countries           Total Population

Congo                                70 million.
South Africa                       50 million
Tanzania                             42 million
Zimbabwe                          11 million
Zambia                               12 million
Nigeria                               150 million
Ethiopia                              88 million

[*It is not necessary that the entire remaining population is Christian as Africa still has a huge population that doesn't follow any religion, rather go by animist practices and rituals of their ancestors.]