Christianity in Mauritania

Christianity is a small minority religion in Mauritania (about 1%).

In 2020, the estimated Christian population amount was only 0.23% of the population.^[1] There are between 10,000 and 11,000 Christians in Mauritania in 2023, mostly foreign expatriates.^[2][3]

All of the roughly 4,000 Catholics in Mauritania are within the country's only diocese, the Diocese of Nouakchott. In 2020, there were 11 priests and 34 nuns serving 5 parishes.^[4]

There are several expatriate African churches in Mauritania, though there are no more than 200 Protestants in the country, including foreigners.

In spite of a strict law against evangelism the Mauritanian Christian community has allegedly grown and there were estimated to be 400-1,000 ethnic Mauritanian Christians in 2010.^[5] For a short period of eight months the Miracle Channel, a Norwegian/Swedish Christian channel, broadcast clandestine Christian gatherings in the Mauritanian desert containing over 160 people.^[6]

On 7 April 2025, a mob protested against the existence of Mauritanian Christians in Sélibaby. They also desecrated the grave of a Mauritanian convert from Islam to Christianity, and exhumed his body.^[7]

Issues

The distribution of Christian literature and the evangelizing of non-Muslims are prohibited by law. Bibles are rarely printed or distributed and are difficult to bring into the country.^[8]

In 2023, the country was ranked as the 20th worst place in the world to be a Christian by Open Doors.^[9]

For people who like this

• Religion in Mauritania
• Status of religious freedom in Mauritania