In Europe, both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism (with its various expressions) are undergoing secularisation.
According to a new report by Pew Research, in several Latin American countries (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico) there are indeed more adult Protestant converts than Protestants born into families with those beliefs.
However, in Europe, the two major branches of Christianity are losing far more followers than they are gaining, according to Pew’s data.
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The report makes no distinction between committed Christians (who, for example, regularly attend Sunday services) and Nominal Christians.
Poland is the country where Catholicism is holding up best. 96% were raised in this religion, and 92% said in 2024 that they still considered themselves Catholic. Hungary is a similar case: of the 59% born into a Catholic family, 57% remain so.
At the other end of the spectrum is Spain, where 80% of the current population was raised as Catholic, but only 45% of all adults say they are Catholic at present. Conversions to Catholicism in this Mediterranean country stand at just 2%.
In France, too, Catholicism is in sharp decline. Six out of ten were raised as Catholics, but almost half of them (26%) have left the Catholic faith, compared to 34% who still identify with this religion.
In Italy, identification with Catholicism is currently higher. Of the 89% who were baptised in the Catholic Church at birth, 22% have left the faith, but 67% continue to identify with the faith led by the Vatican.
Catholicism has also suffered significantly among this generation in Germany (21% remain, 15% have left) and in the Netherlands (19% vs 17%).
The data from the Pew report on Protestantism are somewhat more difficult to interpret, as they include members of the Lutheran, Anglican and historic Calvinist churches as well as, to a lesser extent, evangelicals from free independent churches.
However, the overall picture is of a Christian confession that is also in clear sociological decline.
In Sweden, two out of three citizens were born into a Protestant church: 38% remain so, but 28% no longer do.
Further west, in the United Kingdom, 51% of citizens were raised in a Protestant environment, but almost half of them (23%) say they have left that faith.
In Germany, 41% were born into a Protestant family, but only 24% of Germans identified as such in 2024.
In the Netherlands, exactly half of those from Protestant families say they are no longer Protestant (14 out of 28%).
In Hungary, retention is higher; the difference between those born into Protestant households and those who remain so is minimal (18% vs 15% today).
In Europe, the numbers of conversions to a Protestant or Evangelical faith are low, according to Pew.
In Sweden, 4% have “joined Protestantism after not having been raised in it”. The figure is 3% in the UK, Germany and Spain. Converts without a Protestant background fall to 2% in the Netherlands and France, and represent 1% of the population in Hungary and Italy.
However, the picture is different when taking a global view of the 24 countries analysed across five continents. “Protestantism has seen a net gain from switching in nearly as many places as it has seen a net loss”, the report concludes.
Published in: Evangelical Focus – europe
– Spain, France and Italy, the European countries where most people leave Catholicism