According to a study by Latinobarómetro, the percentage of Ibero-Americans who identify as Catholic has fallen from 80% in 1995 to 55% today, a decline of 25 percentage points over 30 years.
Spain and Portugal comprise the Iberian Peninsula; Ibero-America encompasses those nations who trace their ancestry to either of the two.
The report, based on interviews with more than 2,200 people from 17 countries in Central and South America including Brazil, further notes that Panama has seen the sharpest drop in the percentage of Catholics — from 89% to 46%, a difference of 43 percentage points.
Following Panama are Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, and El Salvador, where the number of Catholics has decreased by approximately one-third.
This decline has been least noticeable in Mexico, having fallen by only 8 percentage points, from 77% to 69%. It is followed by Paraguay, Guatemala, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, all of which have seen a decline of less than 20 percentage points.
Most Catholic country is Paraguay
The Ibero-American country with the highest percentage of Catholics is Paraguay, where eight out of every 10 people identify as members of the Catholic Church (82%), followed by Mexico and Ecuador, where nearly seven out of every 10 people consider themselves Catholic.
The countries with the least percentage of Catholics are Uruguay, El Salvador, and Honduras, where just over a third of the inhabitants identify as Catholic.
Of the 17 countries analyzed, nine have a Catholic majority, while Chile, Brazil, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Uruguay fall below the 50% mark.
Evangelicals and atheists
The countries with the highest proportion of evangelicals are Honduras (44%), Guatemala (43%), and El Salvador (42%), while in Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador, less than 10% identify as belonging to a Protestant Christian denomination.
Regarding atheists and agnostics, Uruguay stands out, having the largest group in percentage terms, equivalent to half its population (49%), followed by Chile (27%), Argentina (23%), Brazil (21%), and the Dominican Republic (20%). The nations where these groups have the smallest presence are Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay.
Overall, the regional average of atheists and agnostics has quadrupled from 4% in 1995 to 16% in 2026.
This study reinforces the findings of another Pew Research report published in January covering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, which noted that Catholics remain the largest group, despite the growth of other denominations.
This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
