Mauritania

  MAURITANIA

A. THE COUNTRY

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a country in North Africa.
Presidential elections held in 2009 established the current civilian
government. Two issues dominate political debate – the alleged
persistence of slavery in the interior and the inter-ethnic tensions
between Sub-Saharan Africans and Moor.  Mauritania is one of the world’s
poorest countries with subsistence farming and animal herding being the
main sources of employment.  Droughts have led to rapid urbanization.
The main exports are fish, iron ore and oil.  Corruption is a
significant factor in the economy at all levels.

B. THE PEOPLE

The population is ~3,500,000 and official language Arabic.  Due to
economic and political issues and since ethnicity involves caste,
reliable statistics are hard to come by.
~70% are Arab (Hassaniya-speaking), ~28.8% Sub-Saharan African, ~1.2%
Other (West Africans, French, others).

C. RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY/PENTECOSTALISM

Mauritania is officially an Islamic Republic.  Moderate Sunni Islam
permeated by folk magic is practised by the vast majority.  There are
laws hindering proclamation of the Christian gospel and tremendous
social pressure against anyone converting to another faith.
~99.75% are Muslim, ~0.25% claim to be Christian.
In the Christian category:
~0.14% are Catholic, ~0.06% Independent, ~0.03% Anglican, ~0.02%
Protestant, <0.01% are considered ‘marginal’.
Evangelicals represent ~0.1% of the population.
Charismatics represent ~0.1% and of those <0.1% are Pentecostals.

Donna Siemens

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

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