Botswana

BOTSWANA

A. THE COUNTRY

The Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa.
The Kalahari Desert covers 80% of the country, so is prone to severe
droughts.  Botswana is a rare African state – a multiparty democracy is
the norm, corruption rare and economic growth is steady.  The economy is
based on tourism and exports of diamonds, copper, nickel, gold and beef.
The country has the world’s second-highest prevalence of AIDS and the
government has fast-tracked a programme that makes anti-retroviral drugs
available through the public sector.

B. THE PEOPLE

The population is ~1,978,000 and official languages English and
Setswana. ~95.4% are Bantu, ~2.8% San (Bushmen), ~1.8% Other
(Zimbabwean, Angolan, South African, Asian, British).

C. RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY/PENTECOSTALISM

Categorizing religious views is difficult as many adhere to both
Christian and animist views.
~65.56% claim to be Christian, ~32.6% Ethnoreligionist, ~0.83% Baha’i,
~0.45% Muslim, ~0.24% Hindu, ~0.15% Non-religious, ~0.1% Chinese, ~0.05%
Buddhist, ~0.01% Sikh, ~0.01% Jewish.
In the Christian category:
Many hold denominations loosely and move freely between churches on a
frequent basis.  ~31.7% are Independent, ~17.38% Unaffiliated, ~11.22%
Protestant, ~3.99% Catholic, ~0.61% Anglican, <0.01% Orthodox, ~0.66%
are considered ‘marginal’.
Evangelicals represent ~8.1% of the population.
Charismatics represent ~33.9% and of those 5.6% are Pentecostals.

Donna Siemens

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

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