In 2023, Islam was the religion followed by the largest group of foreigners living in Italy, with almost 30 percent of the share. Christians Orthodox represented 29 percent of the total immigrant population, followed by Catholics with 17 percent. About ten percent of the foreign population in Italy did not have any religious affiliation.

Every year, the number of Italian believers attending religious services becomes lower and lower. In 2024, the number of people attending places of worship at least once per week dropped below ten million individuals for the first time since at least 2001, seven million worshipers less than in 2013. In 2020, the most prayerful were the citizens aged over 75 years, whereas the lowest number of individuals attending religious services at least once a week was recorded in the age group between 18 and 19 years. Religious affiliation of Italians Although the dominant religion in Italy is Catholicism, Italian citizens also belong to other religious minorities. In 2020, the largest share of individuals not affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church were Muslims, followed by Jehovah’s Witnesses and Protestants. Reasons to leave religion When asked about the reason they left the religion, 64 percent of the Italian respondents stated that they disagreed with their religion’s position on social issues. Another 60 percent of the interviewees were unhappy about scandals involving religious institutions, whereas six percent left the religion because they married someone outside the faith.

According to data from 2020, more than a half of foreign inhabitants in Italy were Christians (52 percent). Muslims represented 33 percent of all foreign residents in Italy, while almost five percent were either atheist or agnostic.

In 2023, around 1.52 million Muslims lived in Italy. Almost 30 percent of them were represented by Moroccan citizens, with 417,000 people. Islam constitutes the first most common religion of foreigners nationwide. The second-largest religion among immigrants living in Italy is the Christian Orthodox one, considering the large Romanian community residing in the country.

In Italy, more than 50 percent of all the prisoners in 2016 were Catholics. Moreover, 29.1 percent of inmates declared themselves as non-believers or did not declare their religious affiliation. Only 0.06 percent of the prisoners in Italy belong to Jehovah's witnesses.

In 2020, Islam had the largest share of adherents among religious minorities in Italy. Around 22 percent of worshippers not belonging to the Roman Catholics were Muslims. Other large religious minorities were Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants, and Orthodoxes.

The figure shows the current religious adherence among Italians in 2014, by age. According to the survey, the percentage of the individuals who identified themselves as Catholics increased with age, from 68 percent to 81 percent among individuals over 55 years old.

In 2023, Muslims were the largest religious minority among Italian citizens, with around 566,000 Italians following Islam. Moreover, around 445,000 Italian citizens were Orthodox Christians.

People with elementary education or no education made up the most numerous group of people attending religious services at least once a week in Italy. As of 2020, about 4.7 million people belonged to this group, which equals to around 30 percent of the total population with a low education. On the contrary, people with university education represented the smallest group of people going to church at least once a week.

The statistic shows the religious adherence of foreigners in Italy in 2017 (in 1,000s), by region. According to data, Lombardy was the region with the highest number of Muslims (360 thousands) and of Christian Catholics (274 thousands).

The statistic shows the share of Italian citizens belonging to Protestantism in Italy in 2020, by denomination. According to the data, the Pentecostal Church had the largest share of adherents among Protestants, with 65.4 percent of the worshippers.

Between 2019 and 2020, the percentage of Italian teenagers going to the church at least once a week decreased from roughly 20 percent to 16 percent. Consequently, the share of young Italians who never went to church in the last 12 months experienced an increase.

People with upper secondary education represented the largest group of people never attending religious services in Italy. As of 2020, about 6.1 million people with an upper secondary education did not attend any church in the last 12 months. This corresponds to around 32 percent of the Italian population with a high school diploma.

In 2020, people aged 65 years and over belonged to the group with the highest weekly church attendance in Italy. On the contrary, teenagers and young adults made up the smallest group of people going weekly to church.

This statistic displays the reasons to leave a religion in Italy in 2017. When respondents in Italy who were raised within a religion were asked why they left it, 72 percent of the participants stated that they had gradually drifted away from religion. No longer believing in the religion's teachings was cited by 35 percent of the respondents. In contrast, only six percent said to have left their religion to marry someone from outside their own religion.

Between 2010 and 2019, the number of religious marriages in Italy experienced a decrease. On the other hand, civil marriages increased, reaching in 2019 approximately 96.8 thousand.

The region registering the largest amount of marriages was Lombardy, in the North of Italy, where a total of 26 thousand marriages was recorded in 2019.

In 2023, Pentecostalism was the largest protestant religious denomination among Italian citizens, with about 250,000 worshipers. Moreover, Lutherans, Calvinists, and other historical protestant denominations were the second-largest group, with 61,000 believers.

This statistic shows the results of a survey about the compatibility of vaccines with religious beliefs according to physicians as well as to the general public in Italy in 2018. As of survey period, 80 percent of GPs and 80.8 percent of the general population declared vaccines were compatible with their religious beliefs.

The figure shows practicing and non-practicing Catholics Italy 2014 among Italians in 2014. According to the survey, 40 percent of Catholic believers described themselves as rather practicing Catholics.

Although over 90 percent of Italians formally belong to the Catholic Church, the results of a recent survey reveal a different relation between Italian citizens and the Church. According to a survey conducted in 2020, only 25 percent of respondents defined their relationship to the Church as traditional. On the contrary, over 60 percent of interviewees declared either not to be practicing or not to be Catholic.