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Yoruba people

ethnic group of West Africa
(Redirected from Yoruba)

Yoruba is an ethnic group of people living in Africa. They live on the west coast of Africa, mostly Nigeria and Ghana.

Kwara State drummers
Total population
ca. 38 million
Regions with significant populations
 Nigeria 35 million (2012)[1]
 Benin 1.2 million (2012)[2]
 Ghana 0.4 million[3]
 Togo 0.1 million[3]
 Côte d'Ivoire 0.1 million[3]
North America 0.2 million[4]
Europe 0.1 million[5]
Yoruba, Yoruboid languages
Islam (ca. 50%),[6] Christianity, traditional religion.
Related ethnic groups
Bini, Nupe, Igala, Itsekiri, Ebira
A Nigerian Yoruba bride in a lace Buba blouse, with Ipele and the gele headtie made from contemporary Aso Oke


  1. Nigeria at CIA World Factbook: "Yoruba 21%" out of a population of 170.1 million (2012 estimate)
  2. Benin at CIA World Factbook: "Yoruba and related 12.3%" out of a population of 9.6 million (2012 estimate)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The exactness of numbers presented here can be misleading. Numbers can vary by several percentage points or more."
  4. mostly in the United States; estimates 186,000 in the US. About 3,000 in Canada: "Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories". bottom: Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2010-04-04. . In Canada, 19,520 identified as Nigerian and 61,430 as Canadians.
  5. Mostly in the UK ( estimates 94,000), about 6,000 in Greece.
  6. "Nigeria Human Rights Report - Freedom of Religion". bottom.  "Many southern ethnic groups were predominantly Christian, although the Yoruba were approximately 50 percent Muslim."