Religion and History in Niger

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Niger is one of the most religiously homogeneous states on earth, close to 99 percent Muslim, overwhelmingly Sunni and shaped by Sufi brotherhoods, above all the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya orders whose leaders hold real social authority in the country's towns and rural communities alongside a small formal government. A tiny Christian minority, mostly Catholic and evangelical, is concentrated in Niamey and among some southern communities.

Traditional Hausa and Zarma beliefs persist in isolated pockets, most visibly in the Bori spirit-possession practices still followed by some despite generations of Islamic influence. The country's July 2023 military coup, which ousted elected president Mohamed Bazoum, marks the latest of several changes of government Niger has weathered since 1960 independence, none of which has altered the Sufi brotherhoods' deep-rooted social authority, which has outlasted every formal political arrangement the state has tried.