Harman Patil (Editor)

Buddhism in Africa

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Buddhism in Africa

Buddhism, as a major world religion, is practiced in Africa. Though there have been some conversion amongst Africans, most of the Buddhists in Africa, are of Asian, mostly Chinese, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan or Japanese descent.

South Africa is holds the largest Buddhist population in the continent. According to the 2010s estimates, Buddhist adherents (included Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion) are increasing to between 0.2% 0.3% of the South African population, or between 100 and 150 thousand people while the number of practicing Buddhists maybe low.

The African countries and territories in the Indian Ocean are also having significant Buddhist minorities. Mauritius has the highest Buddhist percentage (between 1.5 to 2% of the total population) among African countries due to high number of Chinese people (nearly 40 thousands or 3% of the Mauritian population). But the number of practicing Buddhists is only about 0.4%. And Madagascar is also home of about 20 thousand Buddhists (or about 0.1% of the total population). In the Seychelles and RĂ©union, Buddhists represented about 0.1% to 0.2% of the island populations.

In North Africa, about 0.3% (or about 20 thousand people) of the Libya's population are also Buddhists (mostly foreign workers from Asia). There are also two Buddhist centers in Casablanca, Morocco.

There are some Buddhist centers or temples can be found in Sub-Saharan African countries like: Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

There have also been cases of some high-profile celebrities converting to Buddhism such as Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a famous British actor of Nigerian descent.

One of the very few monastics of African descent is Ven. Bhante Buddharakkhita from Uganda, founder of the Uganda Buddhist Centre.

References

Buddhism in Africa Wikipedia