According to the statistics recently published by the Evangelical church of Germany (EKD, the mainline Protestant Church), around 17.4 million people belonged to one of the EKD’s 20 regional churches as of 31 December 2025.

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

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Meanwhile, the Catholic church had 19,2 million members at the end of 2025, 2.6% less than the previous year, because around 307,000 people left the church and there were about 203,000 Catholic funerals, the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference recently reported.

Not enough baptisms

“With around 105,000 Christians baptised in 2025, the number of baptisms was comparable to that of the previous year”, points out the EKD.

Baptisms “did not only take place in childhood: around one in ten Protestant baptisms involved people over the age of 14”. they explain. Furtheremore, “there were around 16,000 admissions to the EKD in 2025”.

That is why, “the lower number of baptisms cannot compensate for the loss”, adds the EKD.

The situation is similar in the Catholic church, with “109,000 baptisms, 2,000 new members and 5,000 reinstatements”, that cannot offset for the loss in the Catholic church either.

Social action and education

The EKD report also stresses that its churches “are committed nationwide to helping people in various life situations”, so that “they run nurseries and schools, maintain counselling centres, support the sick and those in need of care, and assist people in social emergencies”.

For example, the number of Protestant nursery places grew slightly last year to 465,747 (463,697 in 2024).

Education is another key point for the EKD, as “faith courses are becoming increasingly important alongside religious education and confirmation classes”.

The digital and in-person programmes “are aimed at both baptised individuals and those with no connection to the church, offering guidance on questions relating to God, faith and religion”, they underline.

“Faith courses have a long tradition, particularly in eastern Germany, and are now attracting growing interest in other regions of Germany as well”, concludes the EKD.

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