page_title: Burkina Faso
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Burkina Faso / Society / Religion
caption_attribution_description: The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
context_page_description: Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. It covers an area of around 274,200 square kilometres and is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north and west; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo to the southeast; Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest. The July 2019 population estimate by the United Nations was 20,321,378. The country's official language of government and business is French. Roughly 50% of the population speaks the Mossi language natively. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed "Burkina Faso" on 4 August 1984 by erstwhile President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabé. Its capital is Ouagadougou.
  The Republic of Upper Volta was established on 11 December 1958 as a self-governing colony within the French Community, and on 5 August 1960 it gained full independence, with Maurice Yaméogo as President. After protests by students and labour union members, Yaméogo was deposed in the 1966 coup d'état, led by Sangoulé Lamizana, who became president.
context_section_description: Statistics on religion in Burkina Faso can be misleading because Islam and Christianity are often practiced in tandem with indigenous religious beliefs. The government of Burkina Faso's 2006 census reported that 60.5% of the population practice Islam, and that the majority of this group belong to the Sunni branch, while a small minority adheres to Shia Islam.
  A significant number of Sunni Muslims identify with the Tijaniyah Sufi order. The government estimated that 23.2% of the population are Christians (19% being Roman Catholics and 4.2% members of Protestant denominations); 15.3% follow traditional indigenous beliefs such as the Dogon religion, 0.6% have other religions, and 0.4% have none.
caption: The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Bibble 4.9.8e", "Image DateTime": "2007:09:17 10:09:11", "Image ExifOffset": "8", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "852", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "23085", "EXIF ExposureTime": "536871/134217728", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:09:17 10:09:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:09:17 10:09:11", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "261023/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "108853/16384", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "14", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3354", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2236", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4049135/1024", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "16215093/4096", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard"}