HomeInsights
Insights

Nigeria’s population distribution across religious lines

Fatimah Quadri
Fatimah Quadri
Reading Time: 1 min.
Screenshot of the claim; Insert TRUE verdict
Screenshot of the claim; Insert TRUE verdict

Share

See the sources for this fact-check

ON Monday, November 3, 2025, the Presidency, via its official X account, posted a series of infographics showing the distribution of religious affiliations in Nigeria.

Citing Pew Research Center (2024) as its source, one of the graphics stated that over 99% of Nigerians identify with a religion. Another infographic broke down the country’s estimated 227 million population by faith, placing:

  • Islam at 50–51%,

  • Christianity at 47–48%,

  • Traditional religions at 2–3%, and

  • Unaffiliated at less than 1%.

The post also included projections for 2050, estimating Nigeria’s population at 300 million, with Islam accounting for 51%, Christianity for 47%, and other religions for 2%.

READ ALSO: Did UK officially recognize Nigeria as an Islamic state?

Since its publication, the post has generated significant engagement — with over 800,000 views, 1,300 likes, 1,500 reposts, and 1,400 comments as of press time.

However, reactions in the comment section show that some users questioned the accuracy of the figures, alleging that the data was an attempt by the government to downplay claims of Christian persecution in parts of the country.

The FactCheckHub checked publicly available and here is the findings.

FindEasy.in cited a 2012 report on Religion and Public Life by the Pew Research Center, which stated that in 2010, 49.3% of Nigeria’s population was Christian, 48.8% was Muslim, and 1.9% were followers of indigenous and other religions or unaffiliated.

It also referenced The World Factbook published by the CIA in 2018, which estimated the population as 53.5% Muslim, 45.9% Christian (comprising 10.6% Roman Catholic and 35.3% other Christian denominations), and 0.6% other religions.

However, more recent estimates suggest a similar but slightly different distribution.

A study by Statista, according to available demographic data, Islam remains the largest religion in Nigeria, accounting for about 50.5% of the population, with approximately 95% identifying as Sunni Muslims and 5% as Shia Muslims. Christianity makes up around 45.5%, while roughly 6% of Nigerians practice traditional African religions.

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) places the percentage of people practicing Islam in Nigeria at 46.3%, and those identifying as Christians at 45.8%, as projected for 2025.

READ MORE : Fact-checking claims about Islam’s influence in the United Kingdom (UPDATED)

For further context, the U.S. Department of State’s 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Nigeria—which estimates the country’s population at 225.1 million (midyear 2022)—cites Pew Research Center’s 2015 findings, noting that 50% of Nigerians were Muslim, 48.1% were Christian, and approximately 2% belonged to other or no religious groups.

Fact-checker at The FactheckHub | fquadri@icirnigeria.org |  + posts

Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or fquadri@icirnigeria.org.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here


Most Read

Recent Checks

Useful Links

Fact-Checks

Contact

info@factcheckhub.com

+234 903 078 5265

Follow us

Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.

Copyright © 2025 FactCheckHub. All rights reserved..