A recent survey carried out by the research institute INSA-Consulere on behalf of the Protestant news agency IDEA, shows that almost a third (31%) of Germans believe that the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches should merge.

A slight majority (34%) did not share this view, while 28% answered ‘Don’t know’, and 7% do not give an answer.

Catholics, more supportive of the merger

According to the survey, Roman Catholics are the most likely to support a merger of the two major churches (44% in favour, 30% against), followed by the members of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD, the mainline Protestant Church), with 35% in favour and 42% against.

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The free churches are the most opposed to this union, with half of their members against, although another 39% is in favour.

Meanwhile, 38% of the Muslims surveyed back the union, while only 19% of those with no religious affiliation agree with it.

Younger and older conservative women

In general terms, the survey found that women are more likely than men to accept the union of the two major churches to unite (33% versus 29%).

The youngest (18–29-year-olds) and oldest (over 70s ) respondents are the most in favour of the union (35%), followed by the 30–39-year-olds (33%) and those aged 50 to 59 (31%).

The least supoortive are the 60–69-year-olds (24%) and the 40–49-year-olds (28%).

Regarding political views, conservative CDU/CSU party supporters are the most likely to welcome a merger (41%), followed by voters of the Social Democratic SPD party (40%), the Greens (32%), the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD (31%) and the Left (25%).

INSA-Consulere interviewed 2,010 adults between 23 and 26 October 2026 for the survey.

“The results are representative of the adult population in Germany, as well as by gender, age and region”, pointed out IDEA.

Catholics and Protestants decline, Free churches rise

The survey was conducted at a time when both the Catholic and Protestant churches are increasingly losing members.

Recent statistics from the EKD, showed that around 17.4 million people belonged to one of its 20 regional churches at the end of 2025.

That is a decline of around 3.2%, due to the 350,000 resignations and around 330,000 deaths.

The Catholic German Bishops’ reported that, at the same time, the Catholic church had 19,2 million members, 2.6% less than the previous year, because around 307,000 people left the church and there were about 203,000 Catholic funerals.

In contrast, the Federation of Free Evangelical Churches recently reported that the number of people baptized on profession of faith increased from 1,491 to 2,624 over four years, a rise of about 76%. They had 504 congregations and 40,933 members as of December 31, 2025.