In short
Colombia is still a majority-Catholic country, but the Catholic share has dropped by 9 percentage points or more over the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center. Evangelical Protestants grew from about 3.4% of the population in 1996 to about 15.7% by 2020, according to Latinobarometro. The religiously unaffiliated have risen sharply, to about 23% of adults by 2024, and there are now more unaffiliated adults than Protestants. Belief in God remains very high across Latin America. Because Colombia has no official census question on religion, all of these figures are survey estimates.
- The Catholic share in Colombia has dropped by 9 percentage points or more over the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center.
- Evangelical Protestants grew from about 3.4% of the population in 1996 to about 15.7% by 2020 (Latinobarometro).
- The religiously unaffiliated have risen sharply, to about 23% of adults by 2024, and now outnumber Protestants (Pew).
- Belief in God remains very high across Latin America, even as affiliation shifts (Pew).
Colombia was long one of the most solidly Catholic countries in Latin America, but that is changing. The Catholic share has dropped by 9 percentage points or more over the past decade, and there are now more religiously unaffiliated adults than Protestants, according to the Pew Research Center. Evangelical Protestants have surged, from about 3.4% of the population in 1996 to about 15.7% by 2020, according to Latinobarometro, while the religiously unaffiliated have risen sharply, to about 23% of adults by 2024. One important caveat frames all of this: Colombia has no official census question on religion. The national statistics agency (DANE) does not collect data on religious affiliation, so survey sources such as Pew and Latinobarometro are the main evidence, and their figures are estimates with survey margins. Belief in God nonetheless remains very high across Latin America. The figures below draw on Pew and Latinobarometro, the most authoritative sources on Christianity in Colombia.
Key findings at a glance
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic (Latinobarometro survey) | about 73% | 2017 | Latinobarometro |
| Protestant (Latinobarometro survey) | about 14% | 2017 | Latinobarometro |
| Evangelical Protestant (1996) | about 3.4% | 1996 | Latinobarometro |
| Evangelical Protestant (2020) | about 15.7% | 2020 | Latinobarometro |
| Religiously unaffiliated | about 23% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Decline in the Catholic share (past decade) | 9 points or more | 2026 | Pew Research Center |
A Catholic country, but less so
Colombia remains a majority-Catholic country, and belief in God is still very high. But the Catholic share is no longer as dominant as it once was. The Pew Research Center finds that across Latin America, including Colombia, the Catholic share has declined markedly over the past decade, even as most people continue to profess a strong belief in God.
In 2017, about 73% of Colombians identified as Catholic and about 14% as Protestant, according to Latinobarometro.
The Catholic share in Colombia dropped by 9 percentage points or more over the past decade, and there are now more religiously unaffiliated adults than Protestants, according to the Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic share (Latinobarometro) | about 73% | 2017 | Latinobarometro |
| Protestant share (Latinobarometro) | about 14% | 2017 | Latinobarometro |
| Decline in the Catholic share (past decade) | 9 points or more | 2026 | Pew Research Center |
| Belief in God across Latin America | very high | 2026 | Pew Research Center |
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The evangelical surge and the rise of the unaffiliated
Two trends explain most of the Catholic decline: the growth of evangelical Protestantism and the rise of the religiously unaffiliated. Latinobarometro has tracked the evangelical share climbing steadily since the 1990s, while Pew reports that the unaffiliated have grown fast enough to overtake Protestants in number.
Evangelical Protestants in Colombia grew from about 3.4% of the population in 1996 to about 15.7% by 2020, according to Latinobarometro.
The religiously unaffiliated in Colombia have risen sharply, to about 23% of adults by 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evangelical Protestant (1996) | about 3.4% | 1996 | Latinobarometro |
| Evangelical Protestant (2020) | about 15.7% | 2020 | Latinobarometro |
| Religiously unaffiliated | about 23% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
| Unaffiliated vs Protestants | more unaffiliated | 2026 | Pew Research Center |
Why the numbers vary: no official census on religion
Colombia has no official census question on religion. The national statistics agency, DANE, does not collect data on religious affiliation, so there is no registered count of Catholics, Protestants, or the unaffiliated. That is why the main sources here are survey-based, and why different surveys report somewhat different shares. Pew and Latinobarometro use different samples, methods, and years, so their figures should be read as estimates that agree on the direction of change rather than on a single exact number.
Colombia has no official census question on religion: the national statistics agency (DANE) does not collect data on religious affiliation, so survey sources are the main evidence.
Survey estimates differ by source and year: Latinobarometro put Colombia at about 73% Catholic and about 14% Protestant in 2017.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official census question on religion | none (DANE) | 2026 | Pew Research Center |
| Catholic (survey estimate) | about 73% | 2017 | Latinobarometro |
| Protestant (survey estimate) | about 14% | 2017 | Latinobarometro |
| Religiously unaffiliated (survey estimate) | about 23% | 2024 | Pew Research Center |
How we compiled these statistics
Every number on this page is traceable to a primary source and dated to the year the data were collected. The shares for Catholics, evangelical Protestants, and the religiously unaffiliated, along with the decade-long decline in the Catholic share, come from the Pew Research Center and from the Latinobarometro time series. We note openly that Colombia has no official census question on religion: the national statistics agency (DANE) does not collect data on religious affiliation, so these survey sources are the main evidence, and their figures are estimates with survey margins rather than registered counts. Where survey years and methods differ, we label each figure with its source and year and treat the numbers as directional.
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