According to data from the Observatory of Religious Pluralism in Spain, non-Catholic worship centers in the country have grown by 50% since 2011going from 5,320 to 8,016 currently. The most numerous correspond to evangelicals, Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
According to the same data, Catholic parishes represented 81.26% 13 years ago, a percentage that has dropped to 74%.
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The latest statistics offered by the government agency, of the almost 31,000 places of worship registered in Spain, 8,016 belong to religious confessions other than Catholic.
Evangelical churches represent 14.3% of the total; Muslim mosques, 5.6% and the so-called kingdom halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 2.04%.
In addition, centers of worship corresponding to Orthodox Christians, Buddhists, Adventists, Baha’is, Anglicans, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and Scientologists, among other denominations, are registered.
Among non-Catholic centers, 55% correspond to evangelical churches (4,455), while Muslim mosques (1,839) represent 22%. Jehovah’s Witnesses (633) have 7.8% of places of worship that are not Catholic.
The autonomous communities where there are more centers of worship other than Catholics are Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid and Valencia.
In Catalonia there are 957 evangelical places, 364 mosques and 113 kingdom halls. In Andalusia, evangelicals have 717 centers, Muslims have 318 and Jehovah’s Witnesses have 117.
For its part, Madrid is home to 818 places of evangelical worship, 138 mosques and 50 spaces of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the Valencian Community there are 479 evangelical centers, 240 Muslim centers and 75 kingdom halls.
In relation to population, the places with the highest number of non-Catholic centers are Vic (Catalonia), among those with less than 50,000 inhabitants, with 25, compared to 7 Catholic parishes; Ceuta, among cities with 50,000 to 1000,000 inhabitants, with 74 and 8 parishes; and Madrid, among cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, with 587 non-Catholic places of worship in front of 340 parishes in the city.
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.