Religious Demographic Profile
Kenya
According to the most recent Kenyan Demographic and Health Survey,1 which presents statistics for a nationally representative sample of women between the ages of 15 and 49 and men between 15 and 54, approximately 88.5% of the population is Christian, including 62.6% Protestant and 25.9% Catholic. An additional 7% of the population is Muslim and 4.2% indicate no religion.
Religious adherence rates for women and men differ only slightly. For example, according to the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey, 26.6% of men identify as Catholic compared with 25.2% of women. The pattern is reversed for Protestants and Muslims, where women adhere to both at higher rates; 64.9% of women versus 60.3% of men identify as Protestant, and 7.6% of women versus 6.4% of men identify as Muslim.2 It should also be noted that adherence levels likewise can differ somewhat by age.
| Religious Affiliation, Demographic and Health Surveys | ||||
| 2003a | 1998a | 1993 | 1989 | |
| Christian (Total) | 88.5% | 90.4 | 91.2 | 92.1 |
| Catholic | 25.9% | 29.1 | 31.4 | 34.7 |
| Protestantb | 62.6% | 61.4 | 59.8 | 57.4 |
| Muslim | 7.0% | 4.9 | 4.9 | 3.5 |
| No Religion | 4.2% | 3.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Other/Missing | 0.3% | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.8 |
a. Average of the results for women and men
b. Protestant figure includes other non-Catholic Christians | ||||
Kenya remains a predominantly Christian country, although there was a slight decline of 3.6 percentage points in the total Christian share of the population between 1989 and 2003. The decline is driven by an 8.8 percentage point drop in the Catholic share of the population in this 14-year period. Protestants increased their share by 5.2 percentage points during this same period. The percentage of Muslims doubled, from 3.5% to 7.0%, and those indicating no religion rose from 2.6% to 4.2% during this period. Adherence to other religions has dropped well below 1%.
The 2006 Forum survey of adults 18 years and older was based on a national probability sample of Kenya's adult population, excluding the largely Muslim-populated North Eastern Province. The sample represents roughly 97% of the population.3 In the survey, approximately nine-in-ten identified themselves as Christian, comprised of roughly 23% Catholic, 62% Protestant and 5% African Independent Churches (AIC). An additional 8% identified as Muslim, 2% as nonreligious and 1% as following a traditional African religion. These findings are very similar to those of the 2003 Demographic and Health Surveys.
According to the Forum survey, renewalists - including charismatics and pentecostals - account for roughly half of Kenya's population. Approximately seven-in-ten Protestants surveyed are either pentecostal or charismatic, and about one-third of all Catholics can be classified as charismatic.
| Renewalists in Kenya, Forum 2006 Survey | |||
| Renewalist | Pentecostal | Charismatic | |
| Population | 56% | 33 | 23 |
| Catholic | 34% | NA | 34 |
| Protestanta | 73% | 53 | 20 |
a African Independent Churches (AIC) not included
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Notes
2The 1998 Demographic and Health Survey is similar: 30.4% of men versus 27.7% of women identify as Catholic, 64.5% of women versus 58.2% of men identify as Protestant, and 5.1% of women versus 4.7% of men identify as Muslim.
3See the introduction to this report for a discussion of survey methodology and definitions.
