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back to Africa, Lutheran - non-LWF
| Group | Where | Number of Adherents |
% of total pop. |
Number of congreg./ churches/ units |
Number of countries |
Year | Source | Quote/ Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lutheran World Federation | Africa | 7,873,287 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Evangelical Lutheran Church in America web site; web page: "January 25, 1996 News Releases " (viewed 9 July 1999). Story: "More than 60 Million Lutherans Worldwide " [96-01-003-FI] | Table: "Lutheran World Federation 1995 Membership Figures Summary " |
| Lutheran World Federation | Africa | 7,900,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Evangelical Lutheran Church in America web site; web page: "January 25, 1996 News Releases " (viewed 9 July 1999). Story: "More than 60 Million Lutherans Worldwide " [96-01-003-FI] | "Almost all of Africa's 7.9 million Lutherans are members of the [LWF] federation. " |
| Lutheran World Federation | Africa | 9,100,000 | - | - | - | 1999 | Lutheran World Federation | "The African membership of the World Lutheran Federation, for example, has grown by 65 percent in just seven years, to 9.1 million people. " |
| Maasai | Africa | 150,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 271. | "Maasai: Location: Kenya, Tanzania; Population: Over 150,000; Religion: Traditional beliefs "; "Contrasting themselves against the predominantly Christian populations of Kenya and Tanzania that surround them, the Maasai traditional place themselves at the center of their universe as God's chosen people. " |
| Maguzawa | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 206-207. | "Hausa: Location: Hausaland in West Africa (northwestern Nigeria and in adjoining southern Niger); Population: more than 20 million; Religion: Islam, small native cults "; "Since the penetration of Islam into Hausaland in the mid-14th century, most Hausa have become extremely devoted to the Islamic faith... In the rural areas, there are still a few communities of people who do not follow Islam. These people are referred to as Maguzawa, and they worship native spirits known as bori or iskoki. " |
| Maliki | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1996 | Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. New York: Doubleday (1996), pg. 431. | "...four major schools of law (...madhahib) of Sunni Islam... <>Malikhites (named for Malik ibn Anas) are also rigorious but they recognize supplementary principles of Islamic law such as istislah, which takes into account the public welfare. Malikhites are most powerful in North Africa and Sudan. " |
| Malinke | Africa | 1,500,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 288-289. | "Malinke: Location: Territory covering The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d'Ivoire; Population: 1.5 million; Religion: Islam "; Pg. 289: "The majority of Malinke are Muslim and have adopted the tenets of Islam into their native beliefs, resulting in a wide range of syncretic variations. " |
| Mandean | Africa | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| Mandean | Africa | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Mandean | Africa | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 " |
| Marxism | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1981 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 179. | "The close alliance of the Christian churches with colonial regimes has given way to two predominant types of post-independence patterns, both of which disestablish the churches from their hegemonic positions. These are the promotion of religious pluralism...; and the replacement of Christianity by a quasi-religious ideology such as 'Mobutism' (for President Mobutu) in Zaire, or Marxism in a growing number of nations such as Guinea, Congo, Benin, Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. " |
| Mennonite World Conference | Africa | 322,708 | - | - | 12 countries |
1997 | *LINK* Mennonite World Conference web site; page: "Mennonite and Brethren in Christ World Membership Totals " (viewed 8 Aug. 1999). | Table: "Mennonite and Brethren in Christ World Membership Totals "; "based on the most recent data available... from 1996 or 1997... statistics indicate baptized members "; Dif. religious bodies: 21. |
| Mossi | Africa | 7,200,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 306. | "Mossi: Location: Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire; Population: 5 to 6 million in Burkina Faso, 1.2 million in Cote d'Ivoire; Religion: traditional religion (3 main components: creator, fertility spirits, ancestors) " |
| New Religionists | Africa | 10,000,000 | - | - | - | 1984 | Turner, Harold W. "New Religious Movements in Primal Societies " in Hinnells, John R. (ed). A Handbook of Living Religions, Penguin Books: New York (1991) [reprint; 1st published in 1984], pg. 449. | "The greatest proliferation [of syncretistic new religious movements] has been in Africa, where there could be upwards of 10 million people in 8,000/10,000 movements, some 3,000 of them in South Africa alone, and over 600 in Ghana. " |
| New Religionists | Africa | 19,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by 6 Continental Areas,1995 "; "New-Religionists. followers of Asian 20th-cent. New Religions, New Religious movements, radical new crisis religions, and non-Christian syncretistic mass religions, all founded since 1800. " |
| New Religionists | Africa | 21,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by 6 Continental Areas,1996 "; "New-Religionists. followers of Asian 20th-cent. New Religions, New Religious movements, radical new crisis religions, and non-Christian syncretistic mass religions, all founded since 1800. " |
| New Religionists | Africa | 27,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 "; "New-Religionists. Followers of Asian 20th-cent. New Religions, New Religious movements, radical new crisis religions, and non-Christian syncretistic mass religions, all founded since 1800, most since 1945. " |
| Nilotes | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1970 | Cavendish, Richard (ed.). Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural (vol. 15). New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp. (1970), pg. 2000. | "The Nilotes or Nilotic peoples of Africa consist of several culturally related tribes and nations. They live south of the Sahara, stretching from the Nile valley of the southern Sudan and Ethiopia, down to Uganda, where some extend west into the Congo, and eastwards into Kenya. The best known are the Nuer, Dinka, Shilluk, and the Anuak of the Sudan, most of whom, however, are in Ethiopia; the Acholi and Lango of Uganda, the Alur of Uganda and the Congo, and the Luo of Kenya. They speak closely related languages and name similar religious and magial conceptions by variants of conspicuously similar words. " |
| non-Christian | Africa | 379,897,984 | 52.18% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| non-Christian | Africa | 387,256,000 | 51.76% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Nonreligious | Africa | 2,573,000 | 0.35% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 "; Nonreligious. Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religions. " |
| Nonreligious | Africa | 3,567,000 | 0.48% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 "; Nonreligious. Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religions. " |
| Nonreligious | Africa | 1,896,000 | 0.30% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: "The Geography of Religion Website " (assembled by the students of Morehead State University, under Prof. Timothy C. Pitts); web page: "The Geography of Humanism " (viewed 2 March 1999); [Orig. source: Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers (1996), pp. 356-357.] | table with 3 columns: "Area "; "Adherents "; "Population Percentage "; "Secular Humanists are sometimes hard to classify, and perhaps even more difficult to obtain demographic data about. The following distribution lists two groups: Nonreligious and Atheists. Nonreligious are defined as persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, and dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion. Atheists are defined as persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including antireligious (opposed to all religion). " |
| Nonreligious | Africa | 4,863,000 | 0.62% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 "; "Nonreligious: Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion. " |
| Nuer | Africa | 200,000 | - | - | - | 1970 | Cavendish, Richard (ed.). Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural (vol. 15). New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp. (1970), pg. 2020. | "The Nuer are a Nilotic people of some 200,000 souls who live in the swampy and savannah country on both sides of the Nile, in the region where that river is fed by its two tributaries, the Sobat from the east and the Bahr al-Ghazal from the west. " |
| Oromo | Africa | 28,000,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 355-356. | "Oromos: Location: Oromia in the Ethiopian Empire; Kenya; Somalia; Population: 28 million; Religion: Original Oromo religion (Waaqa); Islam; Christianity "; Pg. 356: "Today Islam and Christianity play important religious roles in Oromo society. In some Oromo regions, Orthodox christianity was imposed on the Oromos by the Ethiopian colonizing structure; in other areas, Oromos accepted Protestant Christianity to esist Orthodox Christianity. Some Oromos accepted Islam to resist Ethiopian colonialism and Orthodox Christianity. Islam was imposed on other Oromos by Turko-Egyptian colonialism. However, some Oromos have continued to practice their original religin. Both Christianity and Islam have been greatly influenced by the original Oromo religion. " |
| Orthodox (Eastern Christian) | Africa | 33,660,000 | 4.32% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 " |
| other | Africa | 1,000,000 | 1.00% | - | - | 1900 | Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion (Second Edition), Heinemann Educational Books: Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1991), pg. 33-34. | "followers of other religions [everything other than African Traditional Religion (58%), Islam (32%), and Christianity (9.2%)] including Judaism, Hinduism, Bah'aism, Sikhism, etc., counted about 1 million (1%). |
| other | Africa | 7,000,000 | 2.00% | - | - | 1900 | Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion (Second Edition), Heinemann Educational Books: Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1991), pg. 33-34. | "followers of other religions [everything other than African Traditional Religion (12%), Islam (41%), and Christianity (45%)] including Judaism, Hinduism, Bah'aism, Sikhism, etc., counted about 7 million (2%). |
| other | Africa | 88,000 | 0.01% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 "; "Other religionists. Incl. 70 minor world religions and a large number of spiritist religions, New Age religions, quasi-religions, pseudoreligions, parareligions, mystic systems,etc. " |
| other | Africa | 90,000 | 0.01% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 "; "Other religionists. Incl. 70 minor world religions and a large number of spiritist religions, New Age religions, quasi-religions, pseudoreligions, parareligions, mystic systems,etc. " |
| other | Africa | 68,000 | 0.01% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 "; "Other religionists. Including minor world religions and a large number of spiritist religions [although 'Spiritists' listed separately], New Age religions, quasi-religions, pseudo religions, parareligions, religious or mystic systems, and religious and semireligious brotherhoods of numerous varieties. " |
| other | Africa | 8,500,000 | 1.00% | - | - | 2000 | Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion (Second Edition), Heinemann Educational Books: Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1991), pg. 34. | followers of other religions [everything other than African Traditional Religion, Islam, and Christianity]; projection to year 2000 done in or before 1991 |
| Parsis | Africa | 1,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| Parsis | Africa | 1,500 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Pentecostal | Africa | - | - | - | - | 2000 | *LINK* Tucker, Neely (Knight Ridder). "Growth of Christianity Is Exploding in Africa " in Salt Lake Tribune (15 Jan 2000). | "The Pentecostal Church, through its many independent denominations, has more than doubled in the past decade in several countries, particularly in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. Storefront Pentecostal churches are on almost every street in Lagos' crowded slums. " |
| polygamy | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1986 | Mazrui, Ali A. The Africans: A Triple Heritage. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company (1986), pg. 142-143. | "There is also the issue of areas of accidental similarity between Islam and traditional Africa. A widely discussed area of congruence concerns attitudes to polygamy. Islam has a limit of four wives, whereas traditional Africa has an open-ended policy. Normally African Muslims have not been tempted to go beyond four wives in any case... Some of the Independent [Christian] Churches have accepted polygamy. " |
| Primal New Religious Movements | Africa | 20,000,000 | - | - | - | 1987 | Bishop, Peter & Michael Darton (editors). The Encyclopedia of World Faiths: An Illustrated Survey of the World's Living Faiths. New York: Facts on File Publications (1987), pg. 307. | "expansion of European peoples into other parts of the world... has produced a series of new religious movements among primal or tribal peoples... These have taken many forms & a variety of names have been used to try to classify them: prophet, messianic, millennial & cargo cults; nativistic, acculturation & revitalization movements... Recently the term PRINERMS (Primal New Religious Movements)... coined to cover the whole field... estimated that in Africa there are around 10,000 distinct movements with perhaps as many as 20 million adherents in total. " |
| Primal New Religious Movements | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1987 | Bishop, Peter & Michael Darton (editors). The Encyclopedia of World Faiths: An Illustrated Survey of the World's Living Faiths. New York: Facts on File Publications (1987), pg. 311. | Graphic: "Number of Primal New Religious Movements (PRINERMS) By Area (All numbers are approximate) "; Number of PRINERMS in Africa: 10,000. |
| primal-indigenous | Africa | 72,777,000 | 10.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 "; Called "Ethnic religionists " in this table. |
| primal-indigenous | Africa | 70,250,000 | 9.39% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 "; Called "Ethnic religionists " in this table. |
| primal-indigenous | Africa | 97,200,000 | 12.48% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 "; [Listed in table as 'Ethnic religionists] |
| Protestant | Africa | 62,286,500 | - | - | - | 1981 | Popenoe, David. Sociology (5th Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1983), pg. 433. [Orig. source: 1981 Britannica Book of the Year.] | Table: Membership in the Major Religions of the World " |
| Protestant | Africa | 69,786,496 | 14.45% | - | - | 1982 | Robertson, Ian. Sociology (2nd ed.); New York, NY: Worth Publishers (1981) [2nd edition is updated since 1977 1st edition], pg. 405. [Orig. source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1982] | Table: "Estimated membership of the principal religions of the world " |
| Protestant | Africa | 109,726,000 | 15.07% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| Protestant | Africa | 114,726,000 | 15.34% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Protestant | Africa | 87,332,000 | 12.80% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: "The Geography of Religion Website " (assembled by the students of Morehead State University, under Prof. Timothy C. Pitts); web page: "The Geography of Protestantism " (viewed 2 March 1999); [Orig. source: Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers (1996), pp. 356-357.] | table with 3 columns: "Area "; "Adherents "; "Population Percentage " |
| Protestant | Africa | 87,190,000 | 11.19% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 " |
| Protestant | Africa | 176,000,000 | - | - | - | 2000 | Bokenkotter, Thomas. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co. (1977), pg. 344. | "According to some calculations, black Africa will by 57% Christian by the year 2000, and in Africa as a whole, Christians (175 million Catholics, 176 million Protestants) will surpass the 326 million Moslems. " |
| Protestant - affiliated | Africa | - | 20.20% | - | - | 1993 | Johnstone. Operation World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1993, p. 21. | Table |
| Pygmies | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1974 | Hallett, Robin. Africa Since 1875. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press (1974), pg. 1. | "The continent's population, estimated in 1973 to number 375 million, presents an equally astonishing range of contrasts in physical type... A few thousand people of Pygmoid stock survive in the equatorial forests... " |
| Qadiriya | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1850 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally published as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 722-723. | "Devotion to Sufism and militant anti-colonialism also characterized several nineteenth century African revivalists, from Usman dan Fodio of the traditional Qadiriyya to al-Hajj 'Umar Tal of the neo-Sufi Tijaniyya. " |
| Quaker | Africa | 14,429 | - | - | - | 1940 | Ferm, Vergilius (ed.). An Encyclopedia of Religion; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (1976), pg. 722. [1st pub. in 1945 by Philosophical Library. 1976 reprint is unrevised.] | "Their subdivisions were in 1940:... Africa, 14,429... " |
| Quaker | Africa | 45,000 | - | - | - | 1978 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 267. | "Of the nearly 200,000 Friends in the world in 1978, 121,000 were in the U.S., 20,000 in Great Britain, 45,000 in Africa (F.U.M. converts)... " |
| Quaker | Africa | 43,000 | - | - | - | 1987 | Bishop, Peter & Michael Darton (editors). The Encyclopedia of World Faiths: An Illustrated Survey of the World's Living Faiths. New York: Facts on File Publications (1987), pg. 134. | "At present there are nearly 142,000 Friends in the Americas, approaching 43,000 in Africa, some 18,000 in Great Britain, and smaller groups in other areas including Australia and New Zeland, most of the countries of northern Europe, India, Taiwan and Japan. " |
| Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia | Africa | - | - | 2 units |
- | 1998 | *LINK* official organization web site (1998) | Counted listings in directory of parishes. [Uganda: 1; Morocco: 1] |
| Sanussi Order | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1910 | Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally published as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 723. | "The pro-Ottoman but politically quiescent Sanusiyya, for example, were victimized by the manipulation of French and Italian forces, first having to curtail and then later redirect their activities prior to the outbreak of World War I. " |
| Shinto | Africa | 1,200 | - | - | - | 1981 | Popenoe, David. Sociology (5th Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1983), pg. 433. [Orig. source: 1981 Britannica Book of the Year.] | Table: Membership in the Major Religions of the World " |
| Shinto | Africa | 1,200 | 0.00% | - | - | 1982 | Robertson, Ian. Sociology (2nd ed.); New York, NY: Worth Publishers (1981) [2nd edition is updated since 1977 1st edition], pg. 405. [Orig. source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1982] | Table: "Estimated membership of the principal religions of the world " |
| Shinto | Africa | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| Shinto | Africa | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Shinto | Africa | 200 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: "The Geography of Religion Website " (assembled by the students of Morehead State University, under Prof. Timothy C. Pitts); web page: "The Geography of Shintoism " (viewed 2 March 1999); [Orig. source: Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers (1996), pp. 356-357.] | table with 3 columns: "Area "; "Adherents "; "Population Percentage " |
| Shinto | Africa | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 " |
| Sikhism | Africa | 36,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| Sikhism | Africa | 37,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Sikhism | Africa | 26,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: "The Geography of Religion Website " (assembled by the students of Morehead State University, under Prof. Timothy C. Pitts); web page: "The Geography of Sikhism " (viewed 2 March 1999); [Orig. source: Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers (1996), pp. 356-357.] | table with 3 columns: "Area "; "Adherents "; "Population Percentage " |
| Sikhism | Africa | 53,000 | 0.01% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 " |
| Songhai | Africa | - | - | - | - | 1591 C.E. | Haskins, Jim & Joann Biondi. From Afar to Zulu: A Dictionary of African Cultures. New York: Walker Publishing Co. (1995), pg. 188. | "Africa's Lost Cultures... Songhai: At its peak, the empire of Songhai stretched from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now Guinea eastward into parts of modern Niger and Nigeria. The ancient cities of Gao and Timbuktu served as the empire's main centers for commerce and culture. After gaining control of the Mali empire during the 1400s, the Songhai people began to conquer neighboring groups and build their own empire... The Songhai people were Muslims, but many also followed ancient African religious customs. They spoke both Songhai and Arabic... The population of the Songhai is unknown. In 1591, Moroccan troops, equipped with guns and cannons, marched into Songhai, captured Gao and Timbuktu... the Songhai were easily overpowered. Eventually the Songhai empire crumbled and was taken over by mower powerful empires such as the Hausa, Fulani, and Bambara. " |
| Songhay | Africa | 3,000,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 391-392. | "Songhay: Location: Eastern Mali, western Niger, northern Benin; Population: 3 million; Religion: Islam combined with indigenous beliefs "; Pg. 391: "Although almost all Songhay are practicing Muslims, Islamic practices have not excluded pre-Islam beliefs... For most Songhay, whose contact with the spirit world may well be frightening but is generally infrequent, the path of Islam is well followed. They pray five times a day, give to the poor, observe the one-month fast of Ramadan, and try to the best of their ability to make the exceedingly expensive pilgrimage to Mecca... These beliefs, however, do not preclude beliefs about the spirit world. " |
| Spiritism | Africa | 4,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 646. [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 " |
| Spiritism | Africa | 4,500 | 0.00% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ) pg. 654. [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 " |
| Spiritism | Africa | 3,000 | 0.00% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999), pg. 695. [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year] | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 " |
| Swahili | Africa | 500,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 1 - Africa. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 406-407. | "Swahili: Location: Eastern Africa from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique; Population: About 500,000; Language: KiSwahili; Religion: Islam (Sunni Muslim); spirit cults "; "Being Swahili is inextricably connected to being Muslim... Some communities revere local religious figures from times past... Such local practices are criticized as old fashioned by some who promote either more 'modern' religion or a purer version of Islam. " [NOTE: This statistic is a measure of ethnic/tribal affiliation, NOT a distinct religion.] |
| Swaminarayanism | Africa | 30,000 | - | - | - | 1987 | Bishop, Peter & Michael Darton (editors). The Encyclopedia of World Faiths: An Illustrated Survey of the World's Living Faiths. New York: Facts on File Publications (1987), pg. 207. | "In East Africa, the Swaminarayan religion was firmly established in 1950 and active temples remain today in several cities in Kenya and Tanzania. " |
| Taoism | Africa | - | 0.00% | - | - | 1981 | Popenoe, David. Sociology (5th Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1983), pg. 433. [Orig. source: 1981 Britannica Book of the Year.] | Table: Membership in the Major Religions of the World " |
