Zambia is officially a Christian nation according to the 1996 constitution, but a wide variety of religious traditions exist. Traditional religious thoughts blend easily with Christian beliefs in many of the country’s syncretic churches. About three-fourths of the population is Protestant while about 20% follow Roman Catholicism. Christian denominations include Catholicism, Anglicanism, Pentecostalism, New Apostolic Church, Lutheranism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Branhamites, and a variety of Evangelical denominations.
These grew, adjusted and prospered from the original missionary settlements (Portuguese and Catholicism in the east from Mozambique) and Anglicanism (British influences) from the south. Except for some technical positions (e.g. physicians), Western missionary roles have been assumed by native believers. After Frederick Chiluba (a Pentecostal Christian) became president in 1991, Pentecostal congregations expanded considerably around the country. Zambia is one of the countries in the World with a large percentage of Seventh-day Adventist, accounting for about 1 in 18 Zambians. The Lutheran Church of Central Africa has over 11,000 members in the country.
One in 11 Zambians is member of the New Apostolic Church. With membership above 1,200,000 the Zambia district of the church is the third largest after Congo East and East Africa (Nairobi).
The Baha’i population of Zambia is over 160,000, or 1.5% of the population. The William Mmutle Masetlha Foundation run by the Baha’i community is particularly active in areas such as literacy and primary health care. Approximately 1% of the population are Muslims, most of whom live in urban areas and play a large economic role in the country. There are about 500 people who belong to the Ahmadiyya sect. There is also a small Jewish community, composed mostly of Ashkenazis.
