The second most populous continent in the world (1,549,867 inhabitants, according to World Bank estimates for 2025), Africa is a land marked by ethnic, cultural and religious diversity.
Deep attachment to religion is a characteristic of the African population. According to a study published by the pan-African research institute Afrobarometer in 2020, more than nine out of 10 Africans (95%) identify with a religion. The close relationship with religion is illustrated in particular by the power given to it: religious leaders inspire more confiance than political leaders and are perceived as less corrupt than other groups of leaders.
Historically, before the colonial period, traditional religions formed the basis of African societies. Although they differed from one another, they were similar on a number of points, including intergenerational oral transmission, polytheism for the most part and the close relationship between living beings and their ancestors, nature, the universe, the visible and the invisible. The arrival of religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism has accentuated the diversity of religious practices. However, traditional religions have not disappeared and continue to guide people today, sometimes alongside imported religions.
So there is a temporal cohabitation of religions, characterised by a symbiosis of ancestral and modern practices. As the Afrobarometer survey points out, this cohabitation is also found on a spatial scale. In the 34 countries surveyed, religious identity and tolerance of other religions were found to be common features. In the majority of countries, citizens declare that they belong to a religion and advocate respect for beliefs other than their own.
While Sierra Leone is often held up as a benchmark in this area, many countries such as Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon are also models of how people should live together.
Deeply religious and spiritual, African societies have managed to preserve their practices in a spirit of openness and benevolence. However, the rise of extremism and religious conflits on the continent represents a threat to this harmony.