Cote D'Ivoire

COTE D’IVOIRE

A. THE COUNTRY

The Republic of Cote d’Ivoire is a country in West Africa (commonly
known in English as Ivory Coast).  There is corruption in the
government, and elections to replace the president have been postponed
several times.  Conflict in the country along north-south lines reflect,
to a large degree, ethnic differences, with southern Christian and
animist political interest groups attempting to shut out the northern
Muslims from power.  Nearly 70% of the population depend on agriculture
and the country is one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa, coffee
and palm oil.  Oil and gas production now garner more income than cocoa.
While all the issues that generate civil war and uneasy ceasefires are
not resolved, there is a return of stability, with a rebuilding of the
economy and infrastructures.

B. THE PEOPLE

The population is ~22,000,000 and official language French.  The large
and undocumented population of migrants from Burkina Faso, Mali and
other surrounding countries means all figures are estimates.
~31.7% are Guinean/Akan, ~24.6% Gur, ~18.74% Malinke, ~10% Mande, ~9.1%
Kru, ~4.9% Other Africans, ~0.9% Other.
Although HIV prevalence rates have gone down to 4.7% of the population,
AIDS is a major problem.

c. RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY/PENTECOSTALISM

Both Islam and Christianity are highly combined with African traditional
beliefs, especially through fetish charms and ancestor worship, making
those three difficult to precisely enumerate.
~41.8% are Muslim, ~33.64% claim to be Christian, ~24.09%
Ethnoreligionist, ~0.27% Non-religious, ~0.13% Baha’i, ~0.05% Buddhist,
~0.02% Hindu.  In the Christian category:
~15.9% are Catholic, ~11.29% Protestant, ~5.4% Independent, ~0.69%
Unaffiliated, ~0.18% Orthodox.
Evangelicals represent ~10.5% of the population.
Charismatics represent ~8.9% and of those ~5.6% are Pentecostals.
Donna Siemens

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

Operation World, Jason Mandryk. Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2010.