| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 62,600,000 (2020)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Tigray (96.1%), Gambela (90.3%), Addis Ababa (83%), Amhara (82.7%), SNNP (77.8%), Oromia (48.7%), Benishangul-Gumuz (46.5%)[2] | |
| Religions | |
| Ethiopian Orthodoxy (43.5%), P'ent'ay (Protestantism) (18.6%), Catholic (0.7%) |
| Christianity by country |
|---|
 |
 Christianity portal |
Christianity in Ethiopia is the country's largest religion with members making up 68% of the population.[3]
Christianity in Ethiopia dates back to the ancient Kingdom of Aksum, when the King Ezana first adopted the faith in the 4th century AD. This makes Ethiopia one of the first regions in the world to officially adopt Christianity.[4][5]
Various Christian denominations are now followed in the country. Of these, the largest and oldest is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, an Oriental Orthodox church centered in Ethiopia. The Orthodox Tewahedo Church was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959 when it was granted its own patriarch by the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa Cyril VI.
Religion in Ethiopia with Breakdown of Christian Denominations (2007)[7]
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the largest original and oldest Christian churches in Africa; only surpassed in age by the Church of the East, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Coptic Church of Egypt. It has a membership of 32 to 36 million,[8][9][10][11] the majority of whom live in Ethiopia,[12] and is thus the largest of all Oriental Orthodox churches. Next in size are the various Protestant congregations, who include 13.7 million Ethiopians. The largest Protestant group is the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, with about 5 million members. Catholicism has been present in Ethiopia since the nineteenth century, and numbers over 530 thousand believers as of the 2007 census. In total, Christians make up about 63% of the total population of the country.[13]
- ^ "Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2015-04-02.
- ^ "2007 Ethiopian census, first draft" (PDF). Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
- ^ The ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03
- ^ "Ethiopia". CIA World Factbook. December 2, 2022.
- ^ Kahsay, Semhal (May 26, 2020). "The Largest Religions in Ethiopia". YEG Daily.
- ^ World Religion Database 2020 at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03
- ^ 2007 Ethiopian census, first draft, Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency (accessed 6 May 2009)
- ^ "Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 8 November 2017.
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has an estimated 36 million adherents, nearly 14% of the world's total Orthodox population.
- ^ Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Population Census Commission (4 June 2012). "Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2012.
Orthodox 32,138,126
- ^ "Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church | church, Ethiopia". Encyclopedia Britannica.
In the early 21st century the church claimed more than 30 million adherents in Ethiopia.
- ^ "Ethiopia: An outlier in the Orthodox Christian world". Pew Research Center.
- ^ Berhanu Abegaz, "Ethiopia: A Model Nation of Minorities" (accessed 6 April 2006)
- ^ Numbers for all groups except the Mekane Yesus are taken from the 2007 Ethiopian census, Table 3.3 Population by Religion, Sex, and Five Year Age Groups: 2007 Archived November 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine