Religion and educational mobility in Africa

The African people and leaders(1,2) have long seen education as a driving force of development and liberation, a view shared by international institutions(3,4), as schooling has large economic and non-economic returns, particularly in low-income settings(5). In this study, we examine the educational progress across faiths throughout postcolonial Africa, home to some of the world's largest Christian and Muslim communities. We construct comprehensive religion-specific measures of intergenerational mobility in education using census data from 2,286 districts in 21 countries and document the following. First, Christians have better mobility outcomes than Traditionalists and Muslims. Second, differences in intergenerational mobility between Christians and Muslims persist among those residing in the same district, in households with comparable economic and family backgrounds. Third, although Muslims benefit as much as Christians when they move early in life to high-mobility regions, they are less likely to do so. Their low internal mobility accentuates the educational deficit, as Muslims reside on average in areas that are less urbanized and more remote with limited infrastructure. Fourth, the Christian-Muslim gap is most prominent in areas with large Muslim communities, where the latter also register the lowest emigration rates. As African governments and international organizations invest heavily in educational programmes, our findings highlight the need to understand better the private and social returns to schooling across faiths in religiously segregated communities and to carefully think about religious inequalities in the take-up of educational policies(6).

Automated summary

The people and leaders of Africa have always viewed education as a catalyst for development and freedom. This view is supported by international institutions, as education provides significant economic and non-economic benefits, especially in low-income areas. This study examines the educational progress across different religious groups in postcolonial Africa, with a focus on Christian and Muslim communities. The findings show that Christians have better educational outcomes compared to Traditionalists and Muslims, even among households with similar economic and family backgrounds. Furthermore, Muslims have lower internal mobility, residing in less urbanized and remote areas with limited infrastructure, which contributes to the educational gap between Christians and Muslims.