Togo
Religion

Religion in Togo (Arda 2020 estimate)

According to a 2012 US government religious freedoms report, in 2004 the University of Lomé estimated that 33% of the population were traditional animists, 28% were Roman Catholic, 20% Sunni Muslim, 9% Protestant and another 5% belonged to other Christian denominations. The remaining 5% were reported to include persons not affiliated with any religious group. The report noted that "many" Christians and Muslims continue to perform indigenous religious practices.

In 2023, The World Factbook stated that 42.3% of the population was Christian and 14% Muslim, with 36.9% being followers of indigenous beliefs, less than one percent being Hindus, Jews, and followers of other religions, and 6.2% being unaffiliated.

Christianity began to spread from the middle of the 15th century, after the arrival of Portuguese Catholic missionaries. Germans introduced Protestantism in the second half of the 19th century when a hundred missionaries of the Bremen Missionary Society were sent to the coastal areas of Togo and Ghana. Togo's Protestants were known as "Brema", a corruption of the word " Bremen ". After World War I, German missionaries had to leave, which gave birth to the early autonomy of the Ewe Evangelical Church.

In 2022, Freedom House rated Togo's religious freedom as 3 out of 4, noting that religious freedom is constitutionally protected and generally respected in practice. Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism are recognised by the state; other groups must register as religious associations to receive similar benefits. The registration process has been subject to long delays with almost 900 applications pending at the beginning of 2021.
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