The average for 2013 based on 84 countries was 43.2 percent. The highest value was in Poland: 95.2 percent and the lowest value was in Ethiopia: 0.6 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2013. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world, with an estimated Catholic population of 140 million, ahead of Mexico and the Philippines, with 101 million and 85 million Catholics, respectively. Nevertheless, Brazil's Catholic population is shrinking. By 2050, today's largest Catholic country could have a majority Protestant population.

Except for Uruguay, over ** percent of the population in all the selected Latin American countries defined themselves as Catholics in 2000. However, by 2023, that was the case in only three countries: Mexico, Peru and Colombia. Over this 20-year period, Panama experienced the largest decrease in the share of Catholic believers, plummeting from **** to **** percent.

The average for 2013 based on 20 countries was 31 percent. The highest value was in Cape Verde: 87.8 percent and the lowest value was in Ethiopia: 0.6 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2013. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Italy: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from 2013 is 84 percent, a decline from 84.7 percent in 2012. In comparison, the world average is 43.2 percent, based on data from 84 countries. Historically, the average for Italy from 1960 to 2013 is 94.5 percent. The minimum value, 84 percent, was reached in 2013 while the maximum of 99.1 percent was recorded in 1960.

Based on the 2020 census, Region 5 or the Bicol Region registered the highest share of households who reported Roman Catholic as their religious affiliation at 93.5 percent. This was followed by Region 8 or Eastern Visayas with a share of 92.3 percent. In contrast, only five percent of households in BARMM were Roman Catholics. The Philippines is one of the countries in the world with the highest population professing the Catholic faith, after Brazil and Mexico.

Spain: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from 2013 is 88.3 percent, a decline from 88.8 percent in 2012. In comparison, the world average is 43.2 percent, based on data from 84 countries. Historically, the average for Spain from 1960 to 2013 is 95.5 percent. The minimum value, 88.3 percent, was reached in 2013 while the maximum of 98.5 percent was recorded in 1969.

Germany: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from 2013 is 31.7 percent, a decline from 31.9 percent in 2012. In comparison, the world average is 43.2 percent, based on data from 84 countries. Historically, the average for Germany from 1960 to 2013 is 38.2 percent. The minimum value, 31.7 percent, was reached in 2013 while the maximum of 45 percent was recorded in 1960.

Poland: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from 2013 is 95.2 percent, an increase from 95.1 percent in 2012. In comparison, the world average is 43.2 percent, based on data from 84 countries. Historically, the average for Poland from 1960 to 2013 is 92 percent. The minimum value, 87.7 percent, was reached in 1960 while the maximum of 95.2 percent was recorded in 2013.

Among the recognized 267 popes of the Catholic Church, the vast majority of them had *****************************. The last ******* pope was John Paul I, who died in 1978. ****** had ** popes, the second-largest number in history, with the last one being Gregory XI, who died in 1378. On April 21st, 2025, Francis, the first Argentinian pope, died after twelve years of pontificate. On May 9th, 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th pope of the Catholic Church with the name Leo XIV. He is the second pope from the American continent and the ********************************, as he was born in *****************, in 1955. He holds Peruvian citizenship, too.

Malaysia: Catholic Christians as percent of the total population: The latest value from is percent, unavailable from percent in . In comparison, the world average is 0.0 percent, based on data from countries. Historically, the average for Malaysia from to is percent. The minimum value, percent, was reached in while the maximum of percent was recorded in .

This statistic shows the total population of Brazil from 2020 to 2023, with a forecast through 2030. In 2023, the total population of Brazil was estimated at around 211.7 million inhabitants. Population of Brazil Brazil has a surprisingly low (and decreasing) population growth rate; despite it being home to the largest number of Catholics in the world, the majority of women in Brazil use some form of contraception, which is often government-subsidized or free, even though the Catholic Church retains its stance that the use of contraceptives is inherently wrong. Within the space of just one generation, families have gone from having more than six children to having just one or two, and the share of Catholics in the population is dwindling, too. The influence of 'telenovelas' — the overwhelmingly popular soap operas often with strong women figures and fewer than three children — could also be helping shape the population’s view of what an ideal family is. The fertility rate in Brazil fell below the replacement rate in 2006 and is still decreasing. The impending population imbalance in Brazil can be seen in the decreasing lower tier of the country’s age distribution. This follows a trend similar to the one Japan and many European countries are experiencing, which are now facing the problems of providing for an aging population with fewer young and working taxpayers. The trend is not quite as extreme in Brazil, giving it time to prepare for the fallout of decreasing family size. This preparation will be important to help the country maintain its emerging economic strength, which is watched with interest by many economists who have said that Brazil’s is one to watch — thus its position as one of the pillars of the “big four” BRIC countries.

Religious adherence varies widely between countries and regions across the globe. While in some countries, such as Bangladesh (majority-Muslim), Thailand (majority-Buddhist), and Nigeria (over 50 percent Muslim and 45 percent Christian), almost all people indicate that religion is important in their daily lives, in others such as Japan, Sweden, and Estonia, over three quarters of people do not believe that religion is important to them. Among countries with higher levels of religious adherence, there are some interesting cases. Predominantly Islamic countries, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia, tend to show high levels of religious adherence. Italy, the historical center of the Catholic Church, records much higher levels of religiosity than other Western European countries, such as France, Germany, or the UK. The United States has almost double the number of people saying they believe religion is important in their daily life than not important. While religious adherence has declined over the past half century in the U.S., waves of immigration from predominantly Catholic countries, as well as the cultural impact of Evangelical Protestantism in some areas has meant that it is still one of the most religious Western countries. Israel, in spite of being an officially Jewish state, records roughly half of respondents being religious. Another notable trend is the tendency of some post-communist countries to show lower levels of religiosity, likely a result of the policy of state atheism under communism - Russia, Belarus, and Estonia all come towards the least religious end of the list for this reason, although Poland, or former-Soviet states in the Caucuses and Central Asia show much higher levels of religious adherence.

Based on the 2020 census, the majority of Filipino households were affiliated with the Roman Catholic religion, accounting for about 79 percent. Meanwhile, the share of the Muslim population was 6.4 percent. The Philippines is one of the countries in the world with the highest population professing the Catholic faith, after Brazil and Mexico.

As of 2015, around ** million female and male population among households in the Philippines were affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. The Philippines is one of the countries in the world with the highest population professing the Catholic faith, after Brazil and Mexico.

Spain has a long history of Islamic tradition under its belt. From cuisine to architecture, the southern European country has been linked to the North of Africa through many common elements. At the end of 2023, there were approximately 2.41 million Muslims in Spain, most of them of Spanish and Moroccan nationality, with upwards of eight hundred thousand believers in both cases. With a Muslim population of more than 660,000 people, Catalonia was home to the largest Muslim community in Spain as of the same date.

The not so Catholic Spain

Believers of a religion other than Catholicism accounted for approximately 3 percent of the Spanish population, according to the most recent data. Although traditionally a Catholic country, Spain saw a decline in the number of believers over the past years. Compared to previous years, when the share of believers accounted for slightly over 70 percent of the Spanish population, the Catholic community lost ground, while still being the major religion for the foreseable future.

A Catholic majority, a practicing minority

Going to mass is no longer a thing in Spain, or so it would seem when looking at the latest statistics about the matter: 50 percent of those who consider themselves Catholics almost never attend any religious service in 2024. The numbers increased until 2019, from 55.5 percent of the population never attending religious services in 2011 to 63.1 percent in 2019. The share of population that stated to be practicing believers and go to mass every Sunday and on the most important holidays accounted for only 15.5 percent.

In 2023, over ** percent of Indonesians declared themselves to be Muslim, followed by *** percent who were Christians. Indonesia has the largest Islamic population in the world and for this reason is often recognized as a Muslim nation. However, Indonesia is not a Muslim nation according to its constitution. The archipelago is a multifaith country and officially recognizes six religions – Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. Not all provinces in Indonesia are Muslim majority The spread of Islam in Indonesia began on the west side of the archipelago, where the main maritime trade routes were located. Until today, most of the Indonesian Muslim population are residing in Western and Central Indonesia, while the majority religion of several provinces in Eastern Indonesia, such as East Nusa Tenggara and Bali, is Christian and Hindu, respectively. Discrimination towards other beliefs in Indonesia The Indonesian constitution provides for freedom of religion. However, the Government Restrictions Index Score on religion in Indonesia is relatively high. Indonesians who practice unrecognized religions, including Indonesia’s indigenous or traditional belief systems, such as animism, dynamism, and totemism, face legal restrictions and discrimination. Indonesian law requires its citizens to put one of the recognized religions on their national identity cards, with some exceptions for indigenous religions. Although legally citizens may leave the section blank, atheism or agnosticism is considered uncommon in Indonesia.

In 2021, 53.3 percent of the total population in Canada were Christian, 4.9 percent were Muslim, but almost more than a third are not religious at all – with the rest stating they adhere to Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, the Jewish faith, and other Christian denominations. Canada’s religious pluralismCanada is not a very religious country in general. Canadians adhere to a wide variety of beliefs and faiths, with the majority following Christianity, followed by those who do not believe in any deity or religion at all. As with many Western countries, the younger generations are less inclined to identify with faith, and Christianity in particular is not as popular as it is among the older generations. Alternative worship for the younger generations?Canadian teenagers are no less enthusiastic about religion than their parents, and they are just as grounded in their faith as the older generations. They are, however, also just as indecisive when it comes to whether they would call themselves religious or not. Interestingly, they seem much more interested in traditional aboriginal spirituality than in the Judeo-Christian model. They also seem quite interested in another alternative to Christianity: Buddhism is quite popular among the younger generations. Whether this signifies a general trend away from Christianity and towards religious alternatives remains to be seen.

The capital of Italy, Rome is the most popular tourist destination in the country. In 2017, the Eternal City took third place on the European podium of cities which registered the highest number of international tourist arrivals. The greatest number of foreign visitors came from the United States of America, Japan and the United Kingdom, accounting for over ** thousand international tourist arrivals in the considered year considered.

Roma Città Eterna

The capital of the Roman Empire, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, and the home of many great artists, like Michelangelo or Raphael Sanzio – with its centuries-old history, culture and art, Rome offers a lot to visitors. The emblematic monuments of the city, the Colosseum and Roman Forum, were the two Italian tourist attractions which generated the highest income in 2017.

Tourism to Italy continuously on the rise

With over ** million international tourist arrivals registered in 2017, Italy ranked fifth on the world list of countries with the largest number of foreign tourist arrivals, while the expenditure of foreign visitors arriving to the country amounted in the year considered to **** billion U.S. dollars. Tourism is one of the most important industries in the country, generating about 13 percent of the Italian gross domestic product in 2017.

In the year 1800, the population of the region which makes up the present-day Netherlands was approximately two million people. The beginning of the 19th century was a tumultuous time in Dutch history, as the region had recently been annexed by Revolutionary France; however the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was eventually established in 1815 (which also included present-day Belgium and Luxembourg) and a period of economic growth, modernization and high quality of life followed. In spite of this economic prosperity, religious tensions between the predominantly Catholic south and Protestant north led to a split in the kingdom in 1839, where it was eventually partitioned into Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, along borders very similar to today's. Rapid modernization and liberalization continued throughout the 19th century, and in 1900 the population of the Netherlands was over five million people.

Early 20th century The Netherlands was free to continue economic expansion, both in the metropole and in its colonies, uninterrupted for much of the first half of the 20th century (partly facilitated by its neutrality in the First World War). This resulted in a steady rise in population, which doubled to ten million within half a century. Population growth would even continue throughout the Second World War, as the Netherlands would be spared from much of the casualty-heavy conflicts seen in neighboring countries; however, most estimates concur that approximately 210,000 Dutch people died as a result of the war, half of which were Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The war also saw the end of Dutch colonization in the East Indies, as Japan annexed the region of present-day Indonesia in 1942; although the Dutch tried to re-colonize the region after the war, Indonesia became an officially recognized independent nation in 1949.

Netherlands today Population growth in the Netherlands would continue largely uninterrupted in the post-war years, until the 1970s, when it began to slow as Western Europe experienced periods of recession and high unemployment. Improvements in contraceptives and education also saw birth rates fall at their fastest ever rates in the 1970s. Following the recovery of the Dutch economy in the 1990s, population growth would resume once more, continuing steadily into the 21th century. In 2020, the Netherlands is estimated to have a population of just over 17 million people, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. For its size, the Netherlands has one of the strongest economies globally, and often ranks among the highest in terms of development, freedom and quality of life.