Historically, Portugal has been a country of Catholics. The 2021 census demonstrated that this trend has not been inverted, as over 80 percent of the population in Portugal identified as Catholic. Protestant or Evangelic believers accounted for more than two percent of the population, while Jehovah's Witnesses constituted one percent of residents. Among non-Christian faiths, Muslims were the most representative group, making up 0.42 percent of the population.

Religious but generally not practicing the faith

In the same year, Catholics numbered more than seven million people spread throughout the country, conquering the religious majority in the mainland and in the two autonomous regions. Citizens without religion totaled more than 1.2 million, which made of them the second most numerous religious group in Portugal. Young people presented the same religious trend, with young Catholics being the most representative group, followed by non-religious. Among youngsters, the attendance of religious events was mostly conducted occasionally, while a quarter did not participate in such proceedings at all.

The contribute of immigration to the growth of Evangelical Christianity

Despite being the minority, non-Catholic Christian and non-Christian faiths have been growing in Portugal. In 2011, Evangelical believers totaled 75.6 thousand, more than doubling ten years after. Such growth was partially motivated by the increase in Brazilian immigration, as more than 61 percent of new members of Evangelical churches in 2023 were of Brazilian origin. In fact, Brazil was the place of origin of almost 82 percent of all the immigrant Evangelical Christians residing in Portugal. However, more than a quarter of new Evangelical Christians were Portuguese, which shows that other religions, namely Christian Catholicism, have been losing members to Evangelical Catholicism.

The 2021 census showed that, out of almost 8.8 million residents in Portugal aged 15 years and more, over seven million were catholic. The second most representative religious group in the country was protestant, a community with almost 187 thousand members. Islam accounted for almost 36.5 thousand believers, while Judaism for just 2.9 thousand. Those without religion totaled 1.2 million residents.

As of 2023, almost half of young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 years were catholic. Those without religion totaled 38 percent of those surveyed. Just five percent had non-Christian religious beliefs.

This study includes data on regional level for nine Western European countries: election returns, occupation categories, religion, population.

Data from Portugal.

Although traditionally a Catholic country, Spain saw a decline in the number of believers over the past years. Compared to 2011, when the share of believers accounted for slightly over 70 percent of the Spanish population, the Catholic community lost approximately 15 percentage points of their faithful by June 2025 with a share of 56.1 percent of the surveyed population. Believers of a religion other than Catholicism accounted for approximately 3.6 percent of the Spanish population in 2025 according to the most recent data. 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: over 47 percent of those who consider themselves Catholics almost never attend any religious service in June 2025. The not so Catholic Spain Around 37 percent of the surveyed population stated to be either non-believers or full atheists in 2025. Non-believers or people that do not have a religious faith fluctuated over the past years with the latest figures showing a 21 percent of people that categorize themselves as so. The share of Spanish atheists is on the rise according to the most recent surveys, taking up 13.3 percent of respondents in June 2025.