According to the Religious Map of Catalonia, there are now 889 evangelical places of worship in the region,100 more than in 2020, making it “the religious tradition that has seen the most significant growth in the last 20 years”.

“The first evangelical churches were established in Catalonia during the second half of the 19th century, often alongside initiatives such as educational centres, social work services, and even hospitals”, explain the authors of the map.

Decline in Roman Catholic churches

Data recently updated by the regional government's Directorate-General for Religious Affairs shows that Catalonia has a total of 7,260 places of worship, 78% of which (5,665) are Roman Catholic.

While almost four out of five places of worship in Catalonia are Catholic churches, this figure has decreased by 4.4% since 2020. In that year, there were 5,956 Catholic churches, representing 80.4% of all place, so that 291 Catholic churches have been lost since then.

According to the study, “this slight decrease can be explained firstly by the ageing of some religious communities, which have either closed down or stopped holding public services and now hold them in a nearby parish or church”.

On the other hand, “some dioceses no longer count privately owned Catholic places of worship where it is unknown whether public services are held”.

More mosques

According to the map data, Islam is the third most represented religion in Catalonia, with a total of 326 places of worship. This means that between 2020 and 2024, 42 new mosques were built.

This figure could be higher, as registration of places of worship with the Catalan government is not mandatory.

Minority and ‘pagan’ religions

In addition to these main religions, there are a dozen more, such as the 112 places of worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 67 Buddhist temples, 53 Orthodox churches and 26 Hindu temples.

There are also eight communities that appeared around 2010 and define themselves as 'pagan', made up of “people interested in the native religions and mythology of the Germanic and Nordic countries”.