Sub-Saharan Africa Overview
Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes 50 countries and territories, has about 241 million Muslims, which is about 15% of the world Muslim population. Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in Sub-Saharan Africa, with about 78 million Muslims (about 50% of Nigeria's total population). Almost one-in-three Muslims (about 32%) in Sub-Saharan Africa live in Nigeria. Western Africa is the only area in Sub-Saharan Africa with a Muslim majority. In contrast, the southern part of Africa has the smallest Muslim population.
Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to a number of countries that have very large Muslim majorities. Countries with the highest percentages of Muslim populations are: Mauritania (99%), Niger (99%), Somalia (99%), Mayotte (98%), Comoros (98%), Djibouti (97%), Senegal (96%), Gambia (95%), Mali (93%), Guinea (84%) and Sierra Leone (71%). The combined Muslim population of all these countries is about 67 million, or about 4% of the global Muslim population.
Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the Largest Number of Muslims
| Estimated 2009
Muslim Population | Percentage of
Population that
is Muslim | Percentage of
World Muslim
Population |
|---|
Nigeria | 78,056,000 | 50.4% | 5.0% |
Ethiopia | 28,063,000 | 33.9 | 1.8 |
Niger | 15,075,000 | 98.6 | 1.0 |
Tanzania | 13,218,000 | 30.2 | 0.8 |
Mali | 12,040,000 | 92.5 | 0.8 |
Senegal | 12,028,000 | 96.0 | 0.8 |
Burkina Faso | 9,292,000 | 59.0 | 0.6 |
Somalia | 8,995,000 | 98.5 | 0.6 |
Guinea | 8,502,000 | 84.4 | 0.5 |
Ivory Coast | 7,745,000 | 36.7 | 0.5 |
Rest of Region | 47,618,000 | 11.3 | 3.0 |
Regional Total | 240,632,000 | 30.1 | 15.3 |
World Total | 1,571,198,000 | 22.9 | 100.0 |
Note: Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life • Mapping the Global Muslim Population, October 2009 |
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