Religious Demographic Profile
Brazil
According to the latest Brazilian Census1, 73.6% of its 2000 population of 170 million is Roman Catholic and 15.4% is Evangelical or Protestant. The next largest category is comprised of those who said they had no religion (7.4%).
Other groups reported by the Census include Spiritists (1.3%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.7%), Brazilian Catholics (0.3%), Afro-Brazilian religions (0.3%) and other Christians (0.2%). Mormons, Jews, Buddhists and other East Asian religions had approximately 0.1% each. Christian Orthodox, Muslims, Hindus, Spiritualists and traditional and indigenous religions each made up less than 0.1% of the population. The Census also reported 0.4% who either did not declare a religion or whose religion could not be determined.
According to the Census, Catholics tend to be more rural while Protestants are more urban. The percentage of non-affiliated in urban areas is also higher than that in the rural areas.
| Religious Affiliation, 2000 Census | |||
| All | Rural | Urban | |
| Catholic | 73.6% | 83.0 | 71.4 |
| Protestant | 15.4% | 10.8 | 16.5 |
| Non-affiliated | 7.4% | 5.0 | 7.9 |
| Other/DK | 3.6% | 1.2 | 4.2 |
Although Brazil has the largest number of Catholics in the world, the percentage of Catholics in the population has been dropping at an accelerating rate since 1980. According to successive Brazilian Censuses2, the Catholic share of the Brazilian population decreased by 4.1 percentage points in the 20 years between 1960 and 1980 (dropping from 93.1% to 89%). But it dropped almost three times as much during the next 20 years, decreasing by 15.4 percentage points (from 89% in 1980 to 73.6% in 2000).
The rapid decline in the Catholic percentage of the population has been accompanied by a corresponding growth in the number of Protestants. The number of Protestants increased by 2.6 percentage points from 1960 to 1980, and by 8.8 percentage points from 1980 to 2000, more than triple the rate of increase of the previous 20 years. The lower Catholic figure reflects not only the growth in the percentage of Protestants but also the rapid growth in the number of non-affiliated (up from 0.5% in 1960 and 1.6% in 1980 to 7.4% in 2000).
The Forum's 2006 survey of adults ages 18 and older was based on a probability sample of Brazilian urban cities and surrounding areas and excluded rural parts of the country3. In the survey, 57% identified themselves as Catholic and 21% as Protestant. Although the Forum's sample misses rural regions that tend to be more heavily Catholic, the findings are generally in line with the trend toward greater Protestant affiliation (and declining Catholic affiliation) in successive Brazilian Censuses. In the Forum survey a larger number of persons also identified themselves as affiliated with other religions (13%).
According to the 2000 Brazilian Census, 10.4% of the population belonged to pentecostal denominations, up from 5.4% in the 1991 Census and 3.3% in the 1980 Census. Census figures make clear that new pentecostal groups are growing rapidly. For example, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God added 1.8 million new members between the 1991 and 2000 Censuses. This represents a six-fold increase in their share of the Brazilian population, from 0.2% in 1991 to 1.2% in 2000.
In the Forum's 2006 survey, approximately one-in-seven respondents indicated they belong to a pentecostal denomination, and an additional three-in-ten identified as charismatic, bringing the total for renewalists to roughly half of the urban population. Approximately eight-in-ten Protestants interviewed indicated they were either pentecostal or charismatic, and roughly half of Catholics identified as charismatic.
| Renewalists in Urban Brazil, Forum 2006 Survey | |||
| Renewalist | Pentecostal | Charismatic | |
| Urban Population | 49% | 15 | 34 |
| Catholic | 57% | NA | 57 |
| Protestant | 78% | 72 | 6 |
Notes
2http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html
3See the introduction to the survey report for a discussion of survey methodology and definitions.
