Church Attendance in Spain: Statistics and Numbers (2024)

Key findings at a glance

Catholic identity without practice

Spain shows a striking gap between religious identity and religious practice. A majority of Spaniards still call themselves Catholic, but that label has become cultural rather than devotional. Self-identification has slid steadily downward for half a century, while the share who actually practice their faith is far smaller.

How often Spaniards attend Mass

Attendance figures make the divide even clearer. Weekly Mass attendance is in the low double digits, and roughly half of Spaniards say they never or almost never go. A small, committed minority attends several times a week.

The generation gap

The steepest divide in Spanish religion is generational. Older Spaniards practice their faith at rates several times higher than the young, and the youngest adults have largely stepped away from organised religion altogether.

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, Mass attendance, and religious practice by age come from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas (CIS), the Spanish public survey institute whose monthly barometers ask representative samples of the population about religion. Where a figure describes a long-term trend, such as the fall in Catholic self-identification from about 90% in the 1970s to 55.4% in 2024, we cite the CIS series that reports it. All figures here reflect 2024 unless a historical comparison is noted.