Nigeria is home to the largest Christian population on the African continent and the fourth largest in the world, according to a significant new report on global religious demographics. This finding emerges amidst a fierce international debate, sparked by recent comments from former US President Donald Trump, accusing the country of permitting a genocide against its Christian community.
Nigeria's Stature in Global Christianity
The data, compiled by Statisense using figures from the CIA World Factbook, Pew Research, and the UN World Population Prospects, estimates that approximately 109 million Christians live in Nigeria. This places the nation behind only the United States (219 million), Brazil (169 million), and Mexico (118 million) in the global ranking.
Within Africa, Nigeria leads significantly, followed closely by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 105 million Christians and Ethiopia in sixth place globally with 91 million. With a total population exceeding 220 million people, which is almost evenly split between Christianity and Islam, Nigeria stands as a pivotal centre for the religion's growth in the Global South.
International Accusations and National Backlash
This demographic revelation comes at a time of heightened tension. Last week, former US President Donald Trump alleged that Nigeria is allowing a Christian genocide to occur and even threatened military intervention if the violence continues.
The Nigerian government has firmly rejected these claims. Information Minister Mohammed Idris labelled the accusation as "misleading and unsubstantiated." He argued that the nation's security crisis is not a religious war but is fundamentally driven by terrorism, banditry, and communal disputes that affect citizens of all faiths. "Millions of Nigerians, Christians and Muslims alike, have suffered from violent crimes unrelated to faith," Idris stated.
The controversy triggered immediate public reactions. Over the weekend, hundreds of Muslim groups held a large demonstration in Kano, a major city in northern Nigeria. Protesters marched through the streets with placards that read, "There is no Christian genocide in Nigeria" and "America wants to control our resources," clearly rejecting the foreign intervention and framing of the conflict.
Religious Leaders and Human Rights Warnings
Prominent faith leaders have also weighed in on the escalating situation. Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the influential head of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), urged President Bola Tinubu to engage in deft diplomacy with Washington. Adeboye's counsel was to "act fast, move wisely" to defuse the international tension. He specifically called for a 90-day grace period for the government to demonstrate tangible progress in tackling the pervasive insecurity before any external action is considered.
Adding a critical perspective, the Amnesty International 2025 report documented a devastating toll, noting more than 1,800 civilian deaths in Nigeria's southeast between 2021 and 2023. The human rights organisation emphasised that these casualties involved both Christians and Muslims, and highlighted the persistent failure of authorities to protect lives. Amnesty International warned that framing the complex and multi-faceted violence in purely religious terms risks oversimplifying the crisis and ignoring its root causes.
Globally, Christianity remains the dominant faith with over 2.4 billion adherents, representing roughly 31 percent of the world's population. The Statisense data confirms that Africa now accounts for more than a quarter of all Christians, a figure projected to grow rapidly as populations in nations like Nigeria, Congo, and Ethiopia continue to expand.
