Visualizing Africa's North-South Religious Divide

In the hundred years between 1900–2000, Africa’s Muslim and Christian populations grew 20x and 70x respectively. A large part of this staggering increase was simply population growth.

But the percentage of followers of the respective religions grew as well.

Now, one in three Africans is a Muslim, one in two a Christian, and only one in 10 a follower of a traditional faith.

To visualize the religious demographics, Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao maps out the largest religious group by share of the population in every African country. Data is sourced from the U.S. State Department’s 2022 report on International Religious Freedom.

Why This Unique Religious Divide Exists

At a glance, Northern Africa is heavily Muslim, and sub-Saharan Africa heavily Christian.

Country	Largest Religious Group	% of Population
Namibia	Christian	97
Congo	Christian	96
Zambia	Christian	96
Lesotho	Christian	95
Equatorial Guinea	Christian	93
Rwanda	Christian	92
Eswatini	Christian	90
Central African Republic	Christian	89
DRC	Christian	87
Burundi	Christian	86
Kenya	Christian	86
Liberia	Christian	86
Zimbabwe	Christian	86
Madagascar	Christian	85
Cape Verde	Christian	84
Seychelles	Christian	82
Uganda	Christian	82
South Africa	Christian	81
Gabon	Christian	80
Angola	Christian	79
Botswana	Christian	79
Malawi	Christian	77
Ethiopia	Christian	73
São Tomé & Príncipe	Christian	72
Ghana	Christian	71
Cameroon	Christian	69
Tanzania	Christian	63
Mozambique	Christian	62
South Sudan	Christian	61
Benin	Christian	49
Togo	Christian	42
Eritrea*	Christian/Muslim	49
Mauritius	Hindu	49
Algeria	Muslim	99
Mauritania	Muslim	99
Morocco	Muslim	99
Somalia	Muslim	99
Tunisia	Muslim	99
Comoros	Muslim	98
Niger	Muslim	98
The Gambia	Muslim	97
Libya	Muslim	97
Senegal	Muslim	97
Djibouti	Muslim	94
Mali	Muslim	94
Sudan	Muslim	91
Egypt	Muslim	90
Guinea	Muslim	85
Sierra Leone	Muslim	77
Burkina Faso	Muslim	64
Chad	Muslim	52
Nigeria	Muslim	50
Guinea-Bissau	Muslim	46
Côte d'Ivoire	Muslim	43

Note: Inclusive of all denominations and sects.

*Estimates vary on which is the largest religious group. Data unavailable for Western Sahara.

In the 7th century AD, the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates spread Islam through their conquests along the northern edge of Africa.

Meanwhile, Christianity had already spread to the continent in the first century AD. However, 15th century European colonial missions took the religion into sub-Saharan Africa.

Noticeably, countries in the middle of the continent tend to have large populations of both, with one group holding a slim majority. For example, Nigeria is only about 50% Muslim. However, this translates into the the highest number of Muslims in a country in absolute terms, at 115 million.

Mauritius is the only African country with a Hindu majority—a religion brought by indentured Indian labor for French and British colonial plantations.

Interestingly, Eritrea may be an even split, though depending on the estimate, either side may hold the majority. These religious demographics also played a part in the country’s previous civil wars.