Christianity in Mauritania

Christianity is a small minority religion in Mauritania.

In 2020, the estimated Christian population amount was only 0.23% of the population. There are between 10,000 and 11,000 Christians in Mauritania in 2023, mostly foreign expatriates.

All of the roughly 4,000 Catholics in Mauritania are within the country's only diocese, the Diocese of Nouakchott. In 2020, there were 11 priests and 34 nuns serving 5 parishes.

There are several expatriate African churches in Mauritania, though there are no more than 200 Protestants in the country, including foreigners.

In spite of a strict law against evangelization, the Mauritanian Christian community has grown and there were estimated to be 400-1,000 ethnic Mauritanian Christians in 2010. For a period of eight months the Miracle Channel, a Norwegian/Swedish Christian channel, broadcast clandestine Christian gatherings in the Mauritanian desert containing over 160 people.

Issues
The distribution of Christian literature and the evangelizing of non-Muslims are prohibited by law. Bibles are rarely printed or distributed and are difficult to bring into the country.

In 2023, the country was ranked as the 20th worst place in the world to be a Christian.