In 1991, President Frederick Chiluba declared Zambia a Christian Nation, a proclamation later reinforced by President Edgar Lungu’s designation of October 18 as a National Day of Prayer, Fasting, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation. While various interpretations and critiques have emerged surrounding these declarations, this brief analysis does not delve into those debates. Instead, it focuses on examining Zambia’s current religious landscape as reflected in the 2022 Census National Analytical Report.
The 2022 Census of Population and Housing report shows that Christianity remains overwhelmingly dominant, embraced by 98 % of the population, Islam accounted for 0.5 percent of the population, while 1.3 percent of the population (about 256,014) were not affiliated with any religion. African traditional accounted for 0.2 percent, and other religions accounted for 0.3 per cent.
DIFFERENT FAITHS WITHIN CHRISTIANITY
The report indicates that while the vast majority of the population identifies as Christian, there is considerable denominational diversity. The top 10 Christian denominations reported were:
1. Catholic –
17.9%
2. Seventh-day
Adventist (SDA) – 17.7%
3. Pentecostal –
17.5%
4. United Church
of Zambia (UCZ) – 9.6%
5. New Apostolic
Church (NAC) – 8.4%
6. Jehovah’s
Witnesses (JW) – 5.6%
7. Baptist – 3.6%
8. Reformed Church
in Zambia (RCZ/Dutch) – 2.6%
9. Christian
Missions in Many Lands (CMML) – 2.6%
10. Evangelical
Church in Zambia (ECZ) – 1.9%.
For additional denominations, see Figure 3.17 of the Census Analytical Report below.
RELIGIOUS DISPARITIES
The report indicates that Pentecostalism has become more prominent in urban centres, where 24.7% of Christians identify with Pentecostal churches.
In terms of gender, the report indicates that there are gender-based variations in religious affiliation, where more males identified themselves as Catholic (18.1%), while females were more likely to be Pentecostal (18.2%).
Regarding urban-rural disparities in religious expression, the census shows Christianity was slightly more prevalent in urban areas (98.1%) compared to rural areas (97.8%). Interestingly, African Traditional Religion often passed through oral traditions and ancestral worship, was more reported in rural areas (0.3%) than in urban settings (0.1%). This suggests that traditional belief systems, while largely reduced, still hold relevance in rural cultural practices and local spiritual identities.
Additionally, non-religious individuals were more common in rural settings (1.5%) than in urban areas (0.9%), a somewhat unexpected finding that may be of interest to researchers.
Concerning provincial analysis, the report reveals further diversity within the religious fabric. Muchinga Province stood out with the highest concentration of Christians (99.4%), followed closely by Southern and Central Provinces. In contrast, Eastern Province exhibited the highest proportion of people affiliated with "other religions" and those with no religious affiliation (4.1%), possibly indicating pockets of Islamic or non-Christian presence, or a stronger influence of traditional belief systems.
IMPLICATIONS FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND TOLERANCE
In simple terms, the 2022 Census Report shows that most people in Zambia are Christians, but some people follow other religions or have no religion at all. This means that while Christianity is the main religion, Zambia is not made up of Christians only. True religious freedom means that everyone, whether Christian, Muslim, traditional believer, or non-religious, should be respected and protected.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this article are solely mine and do not represent any organisation with which I am affiliated.