The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has published microdata from the 2022 census, revealing, for the first time, a detailed map of religious affiliation in Brazil, a country with a population of 210 million.

While over 80% of the population remains Christian (including Catholics and evangelicals), there have been significant internal shifts within the various denominations.

The data show a sharp increase in the number of people with no religious affiliation, while evangelical groups as a whole represent 26.9% of the population (around 56 million people).

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Demographer José Eustáquio Alves points out that the pandemic, budget cuts during the Bolsonaro administration, the timing of the polarised 2022 elections and violence in areas controlled by drug traffickers and militias hindered data collection.

For evangelicals, especially Pentecostals, the report confirms their key role in the social and political life of the country but also shows the need for more detailed measurements to understand the true extent of their growth.

Furthermore, the Catholic population is declining, Afro-Brazilian religions are growing, and secularisation is advancing slowly.

Evangelicals: dynamic and diverse

According to the 2022 census, evangelicals are now the largest religious group among young people, accounting for 31.6% of those aged 10–14.

'Non-denominational' evangelicals are the largest group: 15.6% of those aged 10 and over simply identified as "evangelical" or "believer" without specifying a denomination or church.

However, these data are directly linked to a methodological change by the IBGE, which stopped instructing interviewers to avoid generic responses. That inflated this category and partially covered up the true size of the Pentecostal community.

Pentecostals account for 8.1% of the Brazilian population (14.3 million people). They are the most dynamic core of Brazilian Christianity, with a strong presence in working-class neighbourhoods and sustained growth over recent decades.

Experts suggest that their true numbers could be higher due to the aforementioned generic responses that classified them as 'no denomination'.

Historical Protestants from traditions such as Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists account for 3.2% of the population (5.6 million)

Catholics in decline

Roman Catholicism is still the country’s largest religion, but it is declining steadily: 74.4% in 2000; 65.5% in 2010; and 57% in 2022 (100.6 million believers).

Although they are still the majority religion, Catholics are losing ground against the rise of Protestant evangelicals and the growing number of people with no religious affiliation.

No religious affiliation

People with no religious affiliation are a minority, but their numbers are growing, and they already reach 16.4 million.

Within this group, 1% are atheists (their numbers tripled between 2010 and 2022), while 0.5% are agnostics (increasing sevenfold over the same period).

This growth reflects a global trend towards secularisation, although it remains a minority issue in Brazil.

Religions of African origin

Afro-Brazilian religions are on the rise: Umbanda: 0.8%; Candomblé: 0.3%. Both tripled in size between 2010 and 2022.

In contrast, Spiritism fell from 2.2% to 1.8%.

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