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Countries with the Most Catholics

Which countries have the greatest number of Catholics?
Percentages from Wikipedia
Total population as of 23 January, 2024. Source.
Quiz by TenThousand
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Last updated: January 23, 2024
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First submittedJune 19, 2015
Times taken64,837
Average score81.0%
Rating4.87
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#
country
126 m
Brazil
97.8 m
Mexico
95.7 m
Philippines
76.5 m
United States
48.2 m
D. R. Congo
45.3 m
Italy
38.9 m
Colombia
#
country
35.6 m
France
30.3 m
Spain
28.8 m
Poland
28.7 m
Argentina
28.6 m
Nigeria
25.9 m
Peru
20.8 m
Uganda
#
country
20.7 m
Germany
20.1 m
Venezuela
19.6 m
Angola
19.5 m
Tanzania
17.2 m
India
14.0 m
Ecuador
11.7 m
Canada
+4
Level 21
Nov 24, 2016
wow there more christian in philippines than usa
+67
Level 47
Jun 29, 2017
More Catholics, not Christians. I guarantee the US has more Christians.
+12
Level 61
Nov 8, 2017
Catholic is not the only type of Christian.
+5
Level 32
Nov 8, 2017
yes there's orthodox and protestant
+4
Level 58
Sep 30, 2020
and Baptist, and Lutheran, and Presbyterian, and Mormon, and a hundred and ten others.
+23
Level 78
Jan 27, 2021
Aren't baptists protestants? Lutherans are, at any rate.
+1
Level 36
Jun 28, 2023
and I am a pentecost
+11
Level 82
Feb 7, 2021
Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians are Protestant. Mormons are... Mormons. The overwhelming majority of Christians belong to one of the three main branches - Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy. Catholics make up around half of all Christians, with the countless different Protestant groupings collectively making up another third. Most of the rest are Orthodox, with just 1.3% belonging to denominations outside the three main branches.
+1
Level 75
Jan 24, 2024
There are countless different Catholic groupings as well, but they all take their centrally accepted solemn vows and are part of the overall Catholic church. Protestants split away much more diversely.
+2
Level 37
Apr 16, 2021
catholicism is just one subsidiary of christianity business. there are I think 16 business units altogether.
+5
Level 37
Nov 8, 2017
Vatican City?
+25
Level 66
Nov 8, 2017
Population = 1,ooo max
+6
Level 46
Mar 31, 2020
Population: 841
+1
Level 72
Jan 10, 2021
OK, but what's their birth rate?
+6
Level ∞
Jan 27, 2021
The Vatican likely has a relatively high birth rate. There are married women in the Vatican. Since birth rate is usually measured in children per woman, its possible that the Vatican has the highest birth rate in Europe!
+1
Level 65
Jan 28, 2021
Vatican has 0% birth rate
+1
Level 22
Jan 29, 2021
Actually there are no women citizens in the vatican, as only those working for the papacy(which must be men) are citizens, there are no nun citizens
+1
Level 81
Jun 12, 2023
Nuns are typically not so fecund, too.
+1
Level 82
Nov 3, 2023
This is not at all correct. Many non-clerics are Vatican citizens, as the country needs lots of different people to function -- the Swiss guard and their families, domestic staff like chefs, accountants, etc etc.
+1
Level 68
Feb 5, 2021
Birth rate is usually measured for residents, not citizens.
+2
Level 66
Nov 8, 2017
Ireland = low population or too many Anglicans?
+24
Level 78
Nov 8, 2017
Low population. Same with Austria, Croatia and Portugal. And Malta, San Marino and Andorra, to prevent questions.
+3
Level 75
Nov 8, 2017
Good heavens (no pun intended) folks, just click on the link to the other quiz in the instructions to get points for weeny countries with mostly Catholics!
+2
Level 41
Nov 8, 2017
only about 3-4 million people live in Ireland
+1
Level 67
Nov 9, 2017
I think it's closer to 6.5 million, but still too small to make this list.
+4
Level 45
Jan 18, 2018
pretty sure its 5 but it could have been twice that had the potato famine not happened
+1
Level 58
Sep 30, 2020
It could've been well more than twice, pre-famine England and Ireland had almost the same population but Ireland was never able to explode with the rest of the world
+2
Level 65
Nov 8, 2017
Uhh I was about to say Vatican City
+1
Level 75
Apr 11, 2018
Ha, nah too small m8
+1
Level 22
Jan 12, 2021
I think their population is 841
+2
Level 90
Nov 8, 2017
I would have guessed there were more in Vietnam than the stats show. I have a feeling that in a totally free and open society there might be a higher percentage that would identify as Catholic. Most of the Vietnamese I know here in the states identify as some mixture of traditional Buddhist and Catholic but if made to identify as one would say Catholic. Then again they are the ones or descendants of the ones that were the most "westernized" when everything fell apart. So maybe that is an accurate percentage.
+3
Level 82
Nov 8, 2017
I didn't meet any Catholics when I was in Vietnam that I recall.
+1
Level 79
Jan 24, 2024
Good for you
+3
Level 37
Nov 10, 2017
Remember that Vietnam was colonized by the French, who are mostly Catholic. The low current numbers may reflect the fact that, after reunification, Catholics are afraid to identify as such.
+3
Level 82
Nov 11, 2017
Or they weren't as persistent in their conversion of the natives as, say, the Spanish were in the Philippines or Mexico.
+3
Level 68
Feb 5, 2021
Vietnamese people who converted to catholicism may also have been closer to the colonists, and may therefore have left the country in higher percentages than those who didn't convert, which could explain why a higher percentage of Vietnamese immigrants are catholics - if indeed that is the case.
+1
Level 82
Jan 24, 2024
That's a bit of a weird take, given that the majority of countries on this list are heavily Catholic because...they were colonised by a Catholic country.
+4
Level 53
Feb 5, 2021
I’m Vietnamese and am currently in Vietnam. There is a sizable Catholic population here. Stats indicate that Catholic is the religion with the most followers here, but weirdly of all the people I’ve met, around 3/10 tends to be Catholic; while 5/10 tends to be Buddhist. Currently, it’s almost Lunar New Year (the most important holiday to most Viets), and most Viets are visiting Buddhist temples and pagodas rather than churches, seems to indicate that most here are Buddhists?

Nvm, Buddhism has the most followers here. Source https://asean2020.vn/web/asean/tin-nguong-ton-giao

+1
Level 61
Nov 8, 2017
A third of Canada is Catholic? Seems high to me. I know literally 4 Catholic people and they don't even practise, they were just raised catholic
+7
Level 75
Nov 8, 2017
39% of Canadians identified themselves as Catholic in the 2011 census.
+7
Level 78
Sep 1, 2020
Were I come from it's not a contradiction to be Catholic and not practise.
+1
Level 41
Oct 17, 2020
What country?
+7
Level 78
Jan 27, 2021
Germany. Catholics and protestants alike pay their church tax, typically attend mass only at christmas, and that's their whole relationship with their church. I have a hunch it's similar in many other countries (probably minus the tax).
+3
Level 57
Feb 5, 2021
Quebec is mostly Catholic, and in Canada in general there are many people of Irish, Italian or Portuguese descent who also tend to be Catholic.
+2
Level 71
Feb 5, 2021
I'm guessing many of them are from the French-speaking parts of Canada.
+6
Level 86
Nov 8, 2017
This quiz should have been featured on Saturday, alongside a "Countries with the most Convicts" quiz.
+4
Level 89
Nov 8, 2017
What exactly are you insinuating, mister?
+13
Level 86
Nov 9, 2017
College football reference. Notre Dame and Miami play on Saturday. Biggest game between these two teams since the famous "Catholics vs. Convicts" game in the 80's.

Probably too obscure of a reference . . . certainly wasn't intending any disrespect of Catholics.

+2
Level 89
Feb 5, 2021
Fair enough. I don't follow sports.
+3
Level 36
Mar 2, 2018
I had Uganda but not Italy
+1
Level 47
Nov 17, 2020
How did I miss Italy
+7
Level 55
Jan 27, 2021
Because you forgot to type it in
+3
Level 72
Jan 10, 2021
I thought China had enough Catholics that there was some debate about the Pope's appointment of the hierarchy there. You wouldn't need a large percentage of China's 1.4bn people to beat Ecuador on this list.
+2
Level 78
Feb 5, 2021
I was expecting to see China too. But according to Wikipedia most Chinese Christians are Protestant - 38 million Protestants vs 10-12 million Catholics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China
+1
Level 38
Jan 28, 2021
why is Vatican city not on this list, it is a catholic theocracy
+2
Level 55
Jan 28, 2021
This is about actual numbers, not percentages. If it was percentages, Vatican City would be top of the list.
+2
Level 26
Jan 28, 2021
Moja babka nemá vajcia hej hej hej
+1
Level 32
Feb 5, 2021
19/20... missed POLAND
+1
Level 47
Feb 5, 2021
Surprised to not see Ireland here
+2
Level 43
Feb 5, 2021
Low population is the reason why.
+1
Level 53
Feb 6, 2021
somehow i didnt think of the U.S i mean i just thought its prominantly protestant but didnt think of all the immigrants lol
+4
Level 81
Dec 30, 2021
Yes, immigrants from as far back as 1634.
+2
Level 84
Jul 6, 2022
The US is majority Protestant. But with such a large overall population the Catholic population is correspondingly large. Change the question to percentage Catholic then a small place like East Timor will be far above the US.
+1
Level 74
Feb 8, 2021
How did the Pope get popular in Africa? Has he even visited?
+4
Level 21
Feb 9, 2021
colonialism
+3
Level 40
Oct 13, 2022
Yes, he has visited
+1
Level 71
Feb 27, 2022
I think I've just had my most embarrassing moment ever on JetPunk--I forgot Italy!
+3
Level 74
Jun 8, 2023
I forgot Angola, but it makes sense as a former Portuguese colony.
+1
Level 69
Jan 25, 2024
The word Catholic should have been in quotes. Most people in the countries listed are cultural Catholics, most don't go to church, or follow Catholic doctrine.
+1
Level 22
Feb 27, 2024
What exactly is a "cultural catholic"?
+1
Level 75
Feb 27, 2024
We are catholic in our tastes here - cultural Catholics are included in this quiz.
+1
Level 22
Feb 27, 2024
Dam! Got Angola and Tanzania, but missed out on Uganda and Ecuador...