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.

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.