In 2023, the most prevalent religious affiliation in Brazil was Roman Catholic. Approximately ** percent of Brazilian respondents identified as Catholic, while the second-most selected religion was Evangelical, with around ** percent of the population surveyed.

The share for Catholic and Evangelic believers in Brazil show opposite trends. While in 1994 Catholics gathered 75 percent of the Brazilian population, it is estimated that in 2032 this figure will drop to 39.8 percent. Meanwhile Evangelicals, which at the beginning of the indicated period were only 14 percent of the population, are estimated to reach 38.6 percent by 2032, a growth of 24.6 percentage points. Nevertheless, in 2019, Brazilian catholic believers were still the largest group, with 51 percent.

A survey carried out in Brazil showed that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of believers in Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda or Candomblé, have suffered prejudice because of their religion. On the other hand, 83 percent of catholic respondents stated they never suffered prejudice due to their faith. Brazilians of Afro-Brazilian religions had also the highest share of disapproval rate of Bolsonaro's government and a high rate of women from this faith defining themselves as feminists.

As of December 2019, biracial people* constitued the largest part of both Catholicism and Evangelism believers in Brazil, with 41 and 43 percent, respectively. Only two percent of believers in both faiths were natives.

In 2022, 34 percent of young people aged between 16 and 24 residing in Rio de Janeiro claimed to have no religion. Additionally, 32 percent identified themselves as Evangelical and a further 17 percent said that they were Catholic. The non-religious affiliation between young people in Rio de Janeiro diverges significantly from the overall religious affiliation reported in Brazil in 2020.

In 2023, about 53 percent of young people in Brazil reported attending mass or other religious services at least once a week. In contrast, 18 percent reported attending only on a special occasion, such as a wedding or funeral.

According to a survey conducted in Brazil in 2019, the highest share of Catholicism and Evangelism believers had completed high school, with 42 and 49, respectively. Catholics holding university degrees were five percent higher than Cvangelics. Moreover, the largest age group in both religions were people between 45 and 59 years old.

A survey conducted in Brazil in 2019 showed that above 53 percent of women of catholic, evangelic and Kardecist religion did not consider themselves as feminists. On the other hand, 57 percent of women with no religion (or agnostic) and 61 percent of Afro-Brazilian religions, such as umbanda, defined themselves as feminists.

In 2023, SuaEscolha.com – the Brazilian version of EveryStudent.com, a website run by interdenominational Christian parachurch organization Cru – accounted for nearly one-fifth of religious and esoteric brands' investments in digital advertising in Brazil. Website Isha Tarot Reading and Pentecostal denomination Igreja Cristã Maranata followed with about 17 and six percent, respectively. According to data collected by another source from ad agencies across the South American country, online channels' share in Brazil's ad spend reached 38.2 percent in 2023.

According to a survey carried out in April 2021 in Brazil, 39 percent of respondents practiced their faith only at home, up from 30 percent six months before. The most common religious practice in October 2020 was watching the mass on television or on the Internet, with 45 percent. Only 14 percent of those interviewed went to the church or temple at that time.

According to a survey conducted in Brazil in 2019, Catholics and Evangelics aged between 45 and 59 years constituted the largest group, with 26 and 23 percent, respectively. Furthermore, biracial people composed the largest part of both Catholicism and Evangelism believers in Brazil.

During a survey conducted in 2023, approximately 54 percent of respondents in 17 Latin American countries claimed to be catholic. Meanwhile, 14.9 percent of the people participating in the survey said they did not profess any religion.In Mexico, more than 69 percent of respondents said they professed Catholicism. Particularly in Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador, most Christians think religion is very important in their lives.

A survey conducted in Brazil in 2019 showed that, with the exception of evangelic believers, more than half of men respondents from all other religions stated they support feminism. Meanwhile, 48 percent of evangelist men said they did not support feminism. In comparison, more than half of women of catholic, evangelic and Kardecist faith did not define themselves as feminists.

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.

According to a survey conducted in Brazil in 2022, Bolsonaro's government had its highest approval rate among evangelic believers, with 35 percent of them considering his government to be great or good. The share of Evangelists in the South American country has been experiencing a remarkable increase in the last decades, and is expected to nearly equate the share of Catholics by 2032.

Roman Catholic is the most common religious affiliation in Colombia. In a survey carried out in 2023, nearly 64 percent of Colombian respondents claimed to be of Catholic faith, whereas the second most chosen religion was Evangelism, with 15.7 percent of the people interviewed. More than 14 percent of respondents answered they had no religious affiliation. The advent of evangelicalism in Colombia and LAC The share of Catholics in Colombia is above the average in Latin America and the Caribbean, where about 53 percent of adults identify as followers of Catholicism. Nevertheless, even if Colombia stood out historically as one of the countries with the largest share of Catholics in the region, their numbers have been dwindling considerably in the past few decades: in the year 2000, 85.5 of Colombians identified as Catholics, over 15 percent points more than two decades later. Meanwhile, Evangelism keeps gaining ground in both the country and the region. While merely 3.4 percent of Colombians were evangelical in 1996, this share had grown almost five-fold by 2020, while atheists and agnostics passed from 4.5 to 10.3 in the same lapse of time. The whole of Latin America is experiencing a similar trend, with evangelists accounting for more than one fifth of the population in countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Brazil. The success of Evangelical Churches in Latin America is related, among other things, to the creation of social safety nets in poor communities, the rise of conservative political parties and movements, and more flexible standards for ordination.
Religiosity among young Colombians Interestingly, eastern religions such as Buddhism enjoy the same popularity as Evangelism and Protestantism among young Colombians. Religion seems to have a considerable impact on youngsters’ life. More than half of surveyed Colombians aged between 15 and 29 claimed that religious beliefs provided them with inner peace, while another 12.5 and 10 percent said that it helped them to quit drugs and gangs, respectively. Only 5.5 percent of the respondents affirmed that religious beliefs had no influence on their lives. As for the religiosity of young Catholic Colombians, very few claimed to be very observant. Around 45 percent considered themselves not very observant, while around a third classified as somewhat observant.

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.

In March 2025, 48 percent of respondents who profess the Catholic faith approved of Lula's government. By comparison, only 26 percent of evangelicals approve of the current government.

The figures for Catholic and Evangelic believers in El Salvador show opposite trends, according to a survey conducted in the country between 2004 and 2019. Until 2006, Catholic believers made up more than half the population, while evangelicals totaled 28.9 percent in that year. However, it is estimated that by 2020 those figures would become quite close, with 40.6 percent of Salvadoran identifying themselves as Catholics and 38.53 percent as Evangelicals. The share of those without a religion also reached the highest estimated figure in 2020, with 18.47 percent. A similar movement was observed in another Latin American country, Brazil, with Evangelicals growing in number while Catholics declined.

Among those selected, Panama and Costa Rica were the Latin American countries with the largest share of evangelists in 2023, with 54.8 and 55.7 percent, respectively. In Mexico, on the other hand, only 3.4 percent of the respondents identified themselves as evangelicals.