- Summary
- Adherents
- Religious Freedom
- Socio-economic
- Public Opinion
Religious Adherents1 |
Madagascar | Eastern Africa | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baha'i | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| Buddhist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 6.8% |
| Chinese Universalist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 6.8% |
| Christian | 50.8% | 63.8% | 33.1% |
| Confucianist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Ethnoreligionist | 46.6% | 13.1% | 3.8% |
| Hindu | 0.1% | 0.5% | 13.6% |
| Jain | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Jewish | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Muslim | 2.0% | 21.8% | 21.8% |
| Shintoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sikh | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.4% |
| Spiritist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Taoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Zoroastrian | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Neo-religions | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.0% |
| Atheist | 0.1% | 0.0% | 2.1% |
| Agnostic | 0.3% | 0.3% | 9.9% |
Religious Demography
The country has an area of 19,448,815 square miles and a population of 18 million. Although precise official figures were unavailable, approximately half of the population is Christian. There are four main Christian denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination, followed by the Reformed Protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM). The Lutheran and Anglican Churches account for most of the remainder of the country's Christians. A significant minority of citizens followed traditional indigenous religions. Muslims constitute slightly less than 10 percent of the population, with strong concentrations in the north and the northwest. Aboriginal and ethnic Indians and Pakistanis who immigrated over the past century made up the majority of the Muslims in the country. There is a small number of Hindus among the ethnic Indian population. The country has a very small Jewish population. There are several foreign missionary groups that operate freely. Several faith-based organizations, some with international affiliations, are involved in health and social services, development projects, schools, and higher education. 2
Sources
Note: All country histories and flags were obtained from The World Factbook, 2008.
1. The World Christian Database (WCD) is based on the 2600-page award-winning World Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Trends, first published in 1982 and revised in 2001. This extensive work on World religion is now completely updated and integrated into the WCD online database. Designed for both the casual user and research scholar, information is readily available on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demographic statistics. Additional secular data is incorporated on population, health, education, and communications. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
2. The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
