In short
In 2024, 52.8% of people in Spain identified as Catholic, down from 68.8% in 2014, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS). Only 17.8% were practicing Catholics, while 36.6% were non-practicing. The non-religious now make up about 41% of the country, split between atheists (16.1%), agnostics (12.1%), and the indifferent or non-believers (12.7%). Overall, 80.4% of people in Spain do not practice any religion, and among young people just 35% still identify as Catholic.
- In 2024, 52.8% of people in Spain identified as Catholic, down from 68.8% in 2014 (CIS).
- Only 17.8% were practicing Catholics in 2024, while 36.6% were non-practicing (CIS).
- The non-religious combined make up about 41% of the population: atheists (16.1%), agnostics (12.1%), and the indifferent (12.7%) (CIS).
- Among young people, only 35% identify as Catholic in 2024, down from 46% before the pandemic (CIS).
Spain was long a deeply Catholic country, but it has secularized rapidly. In 2024, 52.8% of people in Spain still identified as Catholic, down from 68.8% just ten years earlier in 2014, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), the public research institute whose monthly barometer is the authoritative tracker of religiosity in Spain. Yet identity and practice are very different things: only 17.8% describe themselves as practicing Catholics, while 36.6% are non-practicing. At the same time the non-religious, atheists, agnostics, and the indifferent, together add up to about 41% of the country. Pew Research Center has documented this same broad secularization across Western Europe. The figures below draw on the CIS, the most authoritative source on faith in Spain.
of people in Spain identify as Catholic (2024)
Key findings at a glance
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholics (all) | 52.8% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Practicing Catholics | 17.8% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Non-practicing Catholics | 36.6% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Non-religious combined | about 41% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Do not practice any religion | 80.4% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Young people identifying as Catholic | 35% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
How many Spaniards are Catholic?
Catholicism remains the largest faith identity in Spain, but its reach has shrunk quickly. In just a decade the share of people who call themselves Catholic has fallen by 16 percentage points, from more than two thirds of the country to just over half.
In 2024, 52.8% of people in Spain identified as Catholic, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
In 2014, 68.8% of people in Spain identified as Catholic, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholics (all) | 52.8% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Catholics (all) | 68.8% | 2014 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Non-practicing Catholics | 36.6% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Practicing Catholics | 17.8% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Believers of another religion | 3.2% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
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The rise of atheists, agnostics, and the non-religious
As the Catholic share has fallen, the non-religious have grown into a large bloc. Taken together, atheists, agnostics, and the indifferent or non-believers now make up about 41% of the country, a share that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.
In 2024, 16.1% of people in Spain identified as atheists, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
In 2024, 12.1% of people in Spain identified as agnostics, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
In 2024, 12.7% of people in Spain described themselves as indifferent or non-believers, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-religious combined | about 41% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Atheists | 16.1% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Indifferent or non-believers | 12.7% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Agnostics | 12.1% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Believers of another religion | 3.2% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
Practice: how few attend Mass
Formal identity says little about lived faith. Even among those who call themselves Catholic, most are non-practicing, and across the whole population the great majority do not practice any religion at all. The decline is steepest among the young.
In 2024, 80.4% of people in Spain did not practice any religion, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
In 2024, only 17.8% of people in Spain were practicing Catholics, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
Among young people in Spain, 35% identified as Catholic in 2024, down from 46% before the pandemic, according to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do not practice any religion | 80.4% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Practicing Catholics | 17.8% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Non-practicing Catholics | 36.6% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Young people identifying as Catholic | 35% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
| Young people identifying as Catholic (pre-pandemic) | 46% | 2024 | Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas |
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 figures on Catholic identity, practice, atheism, agnosticism, and religious indifference come from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), the public research institute whose monthly barometer is the authoritative tracker of religiosity in Spain. Pew Research Center provides broad framing on the wider secularization of Western Europe. Where figures compare years, we report both the current value and the earlier one so the trend is clear.
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