In short
At the end of 2025, about 19.2 million people belonged to the Catholic and 17.4 million to the Protestant church in Germany, together roughly 36.6 million or about 44% of the population. In 2024, for the first time more people were counted as non-affiliated (47%) than Catholic and Protestant combined (45%), according to fowid. Church exits are falling after the 2022 record: 307,117 people left the Catholic Church in 2025, the lowest figure since 2020. Practice and belief are declining too, most sharply among young people.
- At the end of 2025 the Catholic Church had about 19.2 and the Protestant Church 17.4 million members, together roughly 36.6 million or about 44% of the population (DBK, EKD).
- In 2024, for the first time more people were non-affiliated (47%) than Catholic and Protestant combined (45%), according to fowid.
- 307,117 people left the Catholic Church in 2025, the lowest figure since 2020, after the record of more than 520,000 in 2022 (DBK).
- Belief in God is important to only 38% of Catholic youth, down from just over half in 2002 (Shell Jugendstudie 2024).
Germany was long a majority-Christian country, but that is changing fast. At the end of 2025, about 19.2 million people belonged to the Catholic and 17.4 million to the Protestant church, together roughly 36.6 million or about 44% of the population, according to the annual church statistics of the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz and the EKD. These are registered, church-tax-relevant membership records, not survey estimates. Already in 2024 the non-affiliated overtook the two big churches combined, at 47% versus 45%, according to fowid. At the same time church exits are falling again after the 2022 record. The figures below draw on the DBK, EKD, fowid, the Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor, the Shell Jugendstudie, and BAMF, the most authoritative sources on Christianity in Germany.
Key findings at a glance
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholics in Germany | 19.2 million | 2025 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Protestant (EKD) members | 17.4 million | 2025 | EKD |
| Non-affiliated (now the largest group) | 47% | 2024 | fowid |
| Catholic church exits (lowest since 2020) | 307,117 | 2025 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Regular Mass attendance (Catholic) | 6.8% | 2025 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Daily prayer in the population | 17% | 2024 | Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor |
How many Christians live in Germany?
Christianity in Germany rests on two big churches: the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD). Their membership numbers are unusually reliable because church membership in Germany is an officially registered, church-tax-relevant status rather than something inferred from a survey.
At the end of 2025, 19,219,601 people belonged to the Catholic Church in Germany, according to the Kirchenstatistik of the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz.
At the end of 2025, the Protestant Church in Germany had about 17.4 million members, according to the EKD.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Members of both big churches combined | 36.6 million | 2025 | DBK / EKD |
| Share of the population in both churches | 45% | 2024 | fowid |
| Catholics as a share of the population | 23.7% | 2024 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Protestants as a share of the population | 21.5% | 2024 | fowid |
| Members of the Protestant free churches | 280,000 | 2024 | VEF |
Church exits: the trend is slowing
Church exits peaked in 2022 and have been falling since, though they remain high. Both churches lose a six-figure number of members every year, through exits and through the ageing of their membership.
In 2025, 307,117 people left the Catholic Church, the lowest figure since 2020, according to the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz.
In 2025, about 350,000 people left the Protestant Church, according to the EKD.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic church exits 2024 | 321,611 | 2024 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Record Catholic church exits | over 520,000 | 2022 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Protestant church exits 2024 | 345,000 | 2024 | EKD |
| Annual EKD membership decline | 3.2% | 2025 | EKD |
| Catholic baptisms | 110,000 | 2025 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
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The non-affiliated are now the largest group
The key turning point came at the end of 2024: for the first time, more people in Germany were non-affiliated than Catholic and Protestant combined. fowid builds its landscape figures on the DBK and EKD data and states clearly that they are a mixture of reliable data and estimates of varying quality.
At the end of 2024, about 47% of the population in Germany were non-affiliated, for the first time more than the two big churches combined, according to fowid.
At the end of 2024, about 45% of the population belonged to the Catholic (23.7%) or the Protestant church (21.5%), according to fowid.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-affiliated | 46.8% | 2024 | fowid |
| Catholic | 23.7% | 2024 | fowid |
| Protestant | 21.5% | 2024 | fowid |
| Muslim (organised count) | 3.9% | 2024 | fowid |
| Other religions | 4.1% | 2024 | fowid |
Mass attendance, prayer, and belief in God
Formal membership says little about lived practice. Regular Mass attendance is in the low single digits, and daily prayer and a strong belief in God are declining too, as the Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor shows based on forsa surveys.
In 2025, 6.8% of Catholics attended Mass regularly, up from 6.6% in 2024 but down from 9.1% before the pandemic in 2019, according to the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz.
The share of people in Germany who pray daily fell from 23% to 17%, according to the Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor.
The share with a strong belief in God fell from 47% to 38%, according to the Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic Mass attendance 2024 | 6.6% | 2024 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Catholic Mass attendance before the pandemic | 9.1% | 2019 | Deutsche Bischofskonferenz |
| Raised religiously (from 45%) | 38% | 2024 | Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor |
| 16 to 24 year olds firmly intending to leave | 41% | 2024 | Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor |
Young people and faith
The change is sharpest among the youngest. The Shell Jugendstudie 2024 documents a clear divide: among Christian youth faith is losing importance, while among Muslim youth it remains central and is even rising.
Belief in God is important to 38% of Catholic youth, down from just over half in 2002, according to the Shell Jugendstudie 2024.
Belief in God is important to 79% of Muslim youth, up from 72% in 2002, according to the Shell Jugendstudie 2024.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 to 25 year olds who never pray | 49% | 2024 | Shell Jugendstudie 2024 |
| 12 to 25 year olds who never pray (2002) | 29% | 2002 | Shell Jugendstudie 2024 |
| Young Muslims who pray daily | 37% | 2024 | Shell Jugendstudie 2024 |
| 12 to 25 year olds in one of the big churches | about 50% | 2024 | Shell Jugendstudie 2024 |
Other religions in Germany
Besides the Christian churches, Islam is the largest religious community, followed by smaller communities. The figures rest on different methods: BAMF estimates the number of Muslims by origin, while Jewish and free-church communities count their members directly.
Between 5.3 and 5.6 million Muslims live in Germany, about 6.5% of the population, according to BAMF.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muslims in Germany | 5.3-5.6 million | 2020 | BAMF |
| Members of Jewish communities | 90,500 | 2023 | ZWST |
| Peak of Jewish community members | 108,000 | 2006 | ZWST |
| Members of Protestant free churches | 280,000 | 2024 | VEF |
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. Membership, exits, and Mass attendance come from the annual church statistics of the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz and the EKD, which are registered, church-tax-relevant records. The religious-landscape shares come from fowid, which builds on the DBK and EKD data and declares its own estimate margins. Figures on prayer, belief in God, and intention to leave come from the Bertelsmann Religionsmonitor (forsa, 3,002 respondents), and the figures on young people from the Shell Jugendstudie 2024. The number of Muslims comes from BAMF, that of Jewish communities from the ZWST, and that of the free churches from the VEF. Where data years differ, we use the most recent published year and label it.
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Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Deutsche Bischofskonferenz, Kirchenstatistik 2025
- Deutsche Bischofskonferenz, Kirchenstatistik 2024
- EKD, membership figures for 2025
- EKD, Statistik Kirchenmitglieder
- fowid, Religionszugehoerigkeiten 2024
- Bertelsmann Stiftung, Religionsmonitor (forsa, 2024)
- Shell Jugendstudie 2024 (report via evangelisch.de)
- BAMF, number of Muslims in Germany
- ZWST, membership statistics of the Jewish communities
- VEF, Federation of Protestant Free Churches
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