Brazil’s Changing Faith: Evangelicals Now Nearly 27% as Catholic Dominance Declines
Newly released detailed data from Brazil’s 2022 census has revealed a significant shift in the religious landscape of the world’s largest Catholic nation. While more than 80% of Brazilians continue to identify as Christian, evangelicals now represent 26.9% of the population—approximately 56 million people—according to figures published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The largest evangelical category is those who describe themselves simply as “evangelical” or “believer” without identifying a particular church or denomination. Pentecostals account for 8.1% of the population (around 14.3 million people), while historic Protestant denominations, including Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, represent 3.2%. Notably, evangelicals have become the largest religious group among some of Brazil’s youngest people, accounting for 31.6% of children aged between 10 and 14—a trend that signals continued growth for the foreseeable future.
Roman Catholicism remains Brazil’s largest denomination, but its share of the population has continued to decline steadily. Catholics accounted for 74.4% of the population in 2000, falling to 65.5% in 2010, and dropping to 57% (around 100.6 million people) in 2022. Meanwhile, the number of Brazilians reporting no religious affiliation has risen to 16.4 million, reflecting a broader trend of secularization. Afro-Brazilian religions, including Umbanda and Candomblé, have also recorded growth, while the proportion identifying with Spiritism has fallen. Experts have cautioned that the true number of Pentecostal Christians could be even higher due to changes in how religious affiliation was recorded. The census data paints a picture of a nation in spiritual transition, where evangelicalism is increasingly shaping the faith of the next generation while the historical dominance of the Catholic Church continues to wane.
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