Europe
(50 COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES)
Roughly a quarter of the world’s Christians (26%) live in Europe.9 This makes
Europe the region with the second-largest share of the world’s Christians,
following the Americas. Russia has the largest absolute number of Christians in
Europe (105 million). Despite the Communist government’s attempts to minimize
religion in the country for much of the 20th century, more than 70% of Russians
are Christian, primarily Orthodox Christian.10 Russia alone accounts
for about 19% of Europe’s Christians and nearly 5% of the world’s Christians.
Russia and the other nine countries with the largest number of Christians in
Europe (Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Ukraine, Spain, Poland, Romania
and Greece) collectively are home to one-in-five (20%) of the world’s
Christians.
Catholics are the largest Christian group
in Europe, accounting for more than
four-in-ten European Christians (46%).
The second-largest Christian group in Europe is the Orthodox, who make up 35%
of European Christians. The overwhelming majority of the world’s Orthodox
Christians (76%) reside in Europe.
Although the
Protestant Reformation began in Europe, today fewer than one-in-five European
Christians (18%) are part of the Protestant tradition as broadly defined in
this report. (See Defining Christian Traditions.)
Footnotes:
9 To see all the countries and
territories in Europe, see the Interactive Maps. (return to text)
10 To see how Russia ranks globally on
government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion,
see Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, Rising Restrictions on Religion, 2011. (return to text)