Religious Demographic Profile
South Africa
According to the latest South African Census, 79.8% of its 2001 population of 44.2 million is Christian. The three largest groupings within Christianity are African Independent Churches (31.8%), Protestants (25.5%) and pentecostals (7.6%). Roman Catholics make up 7.1% of the population and an additional 7.8% identify with various other Christian groups. The next largest category is comprised of those who said they had no religion or did not declare a religion (15.1%). Other categories reported by the Census include Muslims (1.5%), Hindus (1.2%) and Jews (0.2%). An additional 2.2% belonged to various other religions.
Traditional Protestants are comprised of Methodists (7.4%), Reformed, (7.2%), Anglicans (3.9%), Lutherans (2.5%), Presbyterians (1.9%), Baptists (1.5%) and Congregationalists (1.1%). African Independent Churches or AICs1 are comprised of a wide variety of Apostolic churches (12.5), the Zion Christian Church (11.1%), other Zionist churches (4.2%), Ethiopian churches (1.9%), Ibandla lama Nazaretha (0.6%) and other churches (1.5%). Pentecostal groups include traditional apostolic and pentecostal churches.2
| Religious Affiliation, Censuses | ||
| 2001a | 1951b | |
| Christian | 79.8% | 68.0 |
| AIC | 31.8% | 13.0 |
| Protestant | 25.5% | 46.0 |
| Pentecostal | 7.6% | 0.2 |
| Catholic | 7.1% | 5.4 |
| Other Christian | 7.8% | 3.4 |
| Muslim | 1.5% | 1.2 |
| Hindu | 1.2% | 1.9 |
| Jewish | 0.2% | 0.9 |
| Non-affiliated/DK | 15.1% | |
| Other | 2.2% | 28.0 |
a. Archived at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/popchar/popchar2.htm
b. Archived at http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html | ||
The number of Christians in South Africa grew by almost 12 percentage points as a share of the population during the second half of the 20th century, despite a 20.5-point decline among traditional Protestant denominations. The growth between 1951 and 2001 was fueled by increases in the number of AICs (18.8 percentage points), pentecostals3 (7.4), Catholics (1.7) and other Christians (4.4). These shifts indicate that Christianity in South Africa has not only become more indigenous but also more pluralistic.
The Forum's 2006 survey of adults ages 18 and older was based on a probability sample of South African urban centers.4 In the survey, 41% identified themselves as Protestant (including pentecostal), 27% as AIC and 11% as Catholic. The findings are generally in line with the trend toward greater AIC affiliation in successive South African Censuses. In the Forum survey a smaller number of persons also identified themselves as affiliated with other or no religions (9%).
In the Forum's 2006 survey, approximately one-in-ten respondents indicated they belong to a pentecostal denomination, and more than two-in-ten identified as charismatic, bringing the total for renewalists to roughly one-third of the urban population. Nearly half of Protestants interviewed indicated they were either pentecostal or charismatic, and roughly one-third of AICs identified as charismatic.
| Renewalists in Urban South Africa, Forum 2006 Survey | |||
| Renewalist | Pentecostal | Charismatic | |
| Urban Population | 34% | 10 | 24 |
| AIC | 37% | NA | 37 |
| Protestant | 47% | 23 | 24 |
Notes
2Though many AIC groups are pentecostal/charismatic in practice, they are not categorized as pentecostal in some Census reports.
3Census numbers for pentecostals were irregularly reported before 2001. A 1996 Census report indicates that pentecostals made up 5.4% of the population compared with 1.4% reported in the 1991 Census. It is possible that prior to 1996 some pentecostals were either counted under "other Christians" or were put into the "don't know" (DK) category. (The number of DKs in 1991 was 31%, compared with approximately 17% in both 1980 and 2001.) Due to a probable undercount, no 1991 data point for pentecostals is reported on the Religious Trends chart.
4See the introduction to the survey report for a discussion of survey methodology and definitions.
