Spotlight on Brazil
More than 175 million Brazilians are Christian,
making the country’s Christian population the
largest outside the United States. By way of
comparison, Brazil has more than twice as many
Christians as Nigeria and about three times as
many as Germany. Indeed, nearly one-in-twelve
Christians in the world (8%) are Brazilian, and
an overwhelming majority of Brazilians (90%)
identify themselves as Christian.
Since the Portuguese conquest of Brazil
in the 16th century, the country has been
overwhelmingly Catholic. In 1950, almost 94%
of Brazilians identified with Catholicism; as
recently as 1980, Catholic affiliation approached
90%. Between 1980 and 2000, however, the
Catholic share of Brazil’s population fell by 15
percentage points to 74%.1 Despite the decline,
Brazil’s Catholic population of about 134 million remains by far the largest in the world. (Mexico’s Catholic
population is a distant second at 96 million.) About one-in-eight Catholics worldwide (12%) are Brazilian.
Catholicism’s historical dominance in Brazil has given way to increasing Christian diversity. In 1940, only
2.6% of Brazil’s population was Protestant.2 Now about 21% of the population is Protestant. This fastgrowing
Protestant community is overwhelmingly pentecostal; according to a 2006 Pew Forum survey,
72% of Protestants interviewed indicated they were pentecostal.3 (For more details on pentecostals, see
Defining Christian Movements.)
Pentecostal beliefs and practices also are changing the way many of Brazil’s Catholics practice their faith.
The 2006 Pew Forum survey found that more than half of Brazilian Catholics identify with the charismatic
movement, which includes members of non-pentecostal denominations who engage in at least some
spiritual practices associated with pentecostalism, such as divine healing and speaking in tongues.4 (For
more details on charismatics, see Defining Christian Movements.)
Footnotes:
1 Figures cited in this sidebar are from Brazil’s national decennial census. For more details on religious trends in Brazil,
see Luis Lugo, “Pope to Visit ‘Pentecostalized’ Brazil,” Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2007. (return to text)
2 The figure is from Brazil’s national census. See Emilio Willems, Followers of the New Faith; Culture Change and the Rise
of Protestantism in Brazil and Chile, Vanderbilt University Press, 1967, pages 66-67. (return to text)
3 Approximately eight-in-ten Protestants interviewed indicated they were either pentecostal or charismatic. Survey results
suggest that the Assemblies of God is the single largest pentecostal church, accounting for four-in-ten pentecostals.
The survey was based on a probability sample of Brazilian cities and surrounding areas and excluded rural parts of
the country. See Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of
Pentecostals, 2006. (return to text)
4 Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals, 2006. (return to text)