Religion in South Africa is dominated by various branches of Christianity, which collectively represent around 78% of the country's total population.
South Africa is a secular state with a diverse religious population. Its constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Many religions are represented in the ethnic and regional diversity of the country's population.
History
A diverse variety of African Traditional Religions of the early Khoisan and later Bantu speakers were practiced in the region prior to contact with European seafarers and settlers. The first symbols of Christianity in southern Africa were in the form of crosses planted along the coast by early Portuguese seafarers. With the establishment of a trading post at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch in 1652, Christianity obtained a permanent foothold and gained converts among the indigenous population. This was reinforced by the arrival of the French Huguenots shortly thereafter. After the British occupations of the Cape in 1795 and 1806, this Christian tradition prevailed.
During the twentieth century the majority of people from European descent were Christian Protestants.
Islam was introduced by the Cape Malay slaves of the Dutch settlers, Hinduism was introduced by the indentured labourers imported from the Indian subcontinent, and Buddhism was introduced by both Indian and Chinese immigrants. Jewish settlers only began to arrive in numbers from the 1820s.
The Baháʼí Faith was introduced to South Africa in 1911. The Baháʼí community decided to limit membership in its national assembly to black adherents when a mixed-race assembly was prohibited under Apartheid. As of 2010, it had the world's ninth largest population of Baháʼís, with nearly 240,000 members.
The socially marginalized African Traditional Religion adherents have become more publicly visible and organised in a democratic post-apartheid South Africa and today number over 6 million, or approximately 15 percent of the population.
Demographics
Census Information
The Census 2001 provided the most recent national statistics for religious denominations. The Census 2011 form did not include any questions about religion due to low priority. The 2016 Community Survey, and intercensal survey carried out by Statistics South Africa, reintroduced the religion question, and the results were reported in the pie chart.
Other Estimates
A 2012 Win-Gallup International Religiosity and Atheism poll indicated that the number of South Africans who consider themselves religious decreased from 83% of the population in 2005 to 64% of the population in 2012. However, an Ipsos Mori Poll of 2017 showed 88% declare that religion was an important part of their lives.
A 2015 study estimated some 6,500 believers from a Muslim background have converted into Christianity and numbers have increased recently.
The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Trends) estimated in 2010 that 82.0% of South Africans identified as Christian, 7.1% identified with indigenous religions, 5.4% identified as agnostic, 2.4% identified as Hindu, 1.7% identified as Muslim, 0.5% identified as Baháʼí, 0.3% each identified as Buddhist and atheist, 0.2% identified as Jewish, and less than 0.1% identified with each other group.
According to the World Values Survey, between 1981 and 2001, South Africa was one of only three societies to see an increase in religious participation, and it was the leader among these, with churchgoing increasing by 13% in that period, from 43% of people surveyed to 57% being churchgoers.
In South Africa today, 85.3% of South Africans identify as Christians. StatSchriA data has provided that Northern Cape, 97.9%, and Free State, 95.5%, provinces have the highest percentage of Christians. In addition, the General Household Survey has found that 56.4% of people who identify as Christian rapport to church weekly
Christianity
Christianity is the dominant religion in South Africa, with 85.3% of the population in 2022 professing to be Christian. No single denomination predominates, with mainstream Protestant churches, Pentecostal churches, African initiated churches, and the Catholic Church all having significant numbers of adherents. Importantly, there is significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religion among most of the self-professed Christians in South Africa. Of the total national population of 62 million, 52.8 million or 85.3% identified as members of a Christian denomination.