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Christianity is the largest religion in Tanzania, representing 63.1% of the total population. There are also substantial Muslim and Animist minorities.
Current statistics on the relative sizes of various religions in Tanzania are limited because religious questions have been eliminated from government census reports since 1967. A 2010 projection for 2020 from the Pew Research Center predicted that 63.1% of the population will be Christian, 34.1% Muslim, 1.2% will practice traditional religions and 1.5% will be unaffiliated.[2] According to a 2015 study, 27.7% of the population was Protestant and 25.6% was Catholic.[3] According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in 2012, 40% of the Muslim population of Tanzania identifies as Sunni, 20% as Shia, and 15% as Ahmadiyya, besides a smaller subset of Ibadism practitioners as well as non-denominational Muslims.[4]
Statistics
For many years estimates have been repeated that about a third of the population each follows Islam, Christianity and traditional religions.[5]
Religion-related statistics for Tanzania have been regarded as notoriously biased and unreliable.[6]
About 98 percent of the population in Zanzibar is Muslim.[7] There are also active communities of other religious groups, primarily on the mainland, such as Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and Bahá'ís.[7]
Abrahamic
Christianity
The Christian population is largely composed of Roman Catholics and Protestants. Among the latter, the large number of Lutherans and Moravians point to the German past of the country while the number of Anglicans point to the British history of Tanganyika. All of them have had some influence in varying degrees from the Walokole movement (East African Revival), which has also been fertile ground for the spread of charismatic and Pentecostal groups.[citation needed]
Islam
On the mainland, Muslim communities are concentrated in coastal areas, with some large Muslim majorities also in inland urban areas especially and along the former caravan routes. 40% of the country's Muslim population is Sunni; the remainder consists of several Shia subgroups (20%), mostly of Indian descent and the Ahmadiyya (15%),[8][9] and a smaller subset of Ibadism and nondenominational Muslim practitioners.[10]
Bahá'í Faith
Judaism
Indian religions
Buddhism
Hinduism
Hinduism is a minority religion in Tanzania.
Sikhism
Freedom of religion
The government of Tanzania and the semiautonomous government of Zanzibar both recognize religious freedom as a principle and make efforts to protect it. The government of Zanzibar appoints Muslim religious officials in Zanzibar. The main body of law in Tanzania and Zanzibar is secular, but Muslims have the option to use religious courts for family-related cases. Individual cases of religiously motivated violence have occurred against both Christians and Muslims, as well as those accused of witchcraft.[11] The freedom to practice religion is a human right in Tanzania.
Notable places of worship
- Azania Front Lutheran Church – Lutheran
- Christ Church, Zanzibar – Anglican
- Gaddafi Mosque – Islamic
- Great Mosque of Kilwa – Islamic (Historical)
- Ijumaa Mosque – Islamic
- Kizimkazi Mosque – Islamic
- St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dar es Salaam – Catholic
See also
References
- ^ "Religions in Tanzania | PEW-GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org.
- ^ "Religions in Tanzania | PEW-GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org.
- ^ https://www.partner-religion-development.org/fileadmin/user_upload/190915_Faith_Development_in_Focus_Tanzania.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ^ "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity" (PDF). Pew Forum on Religious & Public life. 9 August 2012. p. 128. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ So repeated here: (USA government), Central Intelligence Agency. "The World Fact Book". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- ^ Abdulaziz Y. Lodhi and David Westerlund. "African Islam in Tanzania". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- ^ a b "International Religious Freedom Report for 2013" (PDF). United States Department of State. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
- ^ "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity" (PDF). Pew Forum on Religious & Public life. August 9, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Tanzania. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Wortmann, Kimberly T. Omani Religious Networks in Contemporary Tanzania and Beyond. Diss. 2018.
- ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2017 Tanzania, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.