The most popular religions in South Africa
A new report reveals that the vast majority of South Africans describe their religious affiliation as ‘Christian’ while 5.2% say that they are not affiliated to any religion in particular.
The General Household Survey, published by StatsSA, showed that more than 5% of individuals subscribe to religions described as, ‘ancestral, tribal, animist or other traditional African religions’.
Muslims, who comprised 1.9% of the total, predominantly reside in Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Hindus comprised about 0.9% of the population of South Africa; however 3.3% of the population of KwaZulu-Natal are Hindus.
Three quarters (75.6%) of individuals that follow the Muslim faith attend religious services and ceremonies (excluding weddings and funerals) at least once per week. By contrast, 52.5% of Christians and 36.6% of Hindus attend services on a weekly basis.
The most infrequent participation in services were noted for individuals that said they followed ancestral, tribal, animist or other traditional African religions.
Individuals affiliated to this religion (16.7%) were most likely to never attend religious services followed by Muslims (8.4%) and Hindus (6.6%).
Global religion
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, Islam is growing faster than any other religion.
Most of the world’s major religious groups are expected to rise in absolute numbers by 2050, the research finds, with Islam set to overtake Christianity and become the world’s dominant religion by 2070.
In 2050, Christianity will still be the world’s largest religious group, with around a third of the world’s population adhering to its various denominations.
Muslims however, make up the only major religious group projected to increase faster than the world’s population as a whole.
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