New official data reveals that almost 2% of the Spanish population now identifies as Protestant or evangelical.
In the 20 years to 2018, this group multiplied eightfold, to become the fastest-growing denomination in the country. And those evangelicals are now worshipping in well over 4,200 churches across Spain, opening on average 16 new churches a month.
These striking latest figures, compiled by the Spanish Government’s Observatory of Religious Pluralism, place Adventists and Anglicans within the evangelical category, but the largest evangelical denominations in Spain are the Assemblies of God, Baptists, Brethren, and many independent churches.
Furthermore, nearly 10% of those not born in Spain who live in the country identify as Protestant. Numbers embracing evangelicalism reach almost 3% amongst 18 –29-year-olds. More women (2.84%) than men (1.22%) consider themselves evangelicals.
These statistics are especially significant when compared with that of the majority Christian confession, Roman Catholicism, affiliation to which has fallen from 84% to 65% in the same 20-year period. And the ‘religion’ that has grown most is atheists and agnostics, from 10% to nearly 29% in that time.
Polarisation
More generally, although most Spanish people consider themselves ‘rather religious’ (28%), that figure has dropped by 8% compared to 2008. Conversely other options ‘extremely non-religious’ (9.6%) and ‘rather non-religious’ (18.2%) showed a strong increase.
Kent Anderson, British Director of European Christian Mission, commented: ‘These 2018 statistics were great news. But the even better news is that this growth has continued. We look forward to future numbers showing how the evangelical church has expanded even more, despite the impact of Covid-19. Jesus said ‘I will build my church’ — and we are certainly seeing that in Spain today’.
