Christianity in Germany

Christianity In Germany

Christianity is the largest religion in Germany with 52 million adherents (2010/2011) (about 62% of population, 2008: 62.8%. 2006: 67.1%. The second largest religion is Islam with 4 million adherents (5%) followed by Buddhism and Judaism. During the last few decades, the two largest churches in Germany (the Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the Roman Catholic Church), have lost significant number of adherents, both are down to roughly 30% (by the end of 2008). The percentage of Catholics in West Germany alone, starting in 1965 (43.8%) until 2011 (29.9%), under a united Germany, including the eastern states, reflects this difference. More than 30% are not affiliated with any church or other religious body.

The most notable losses occurred in the Protestant churches, in East Germany largely owing to the atheistic policy under the communistic regime. However since the fall of the communistic regime two decades ago, the EKD continued losing members, to just below 30% by the end of 2008. Other churches in Germany are all rather small (equal or less than 0.5%). Since the reunification of Germany the number of nonreligious people in the Federal Republic has grown, especially because the former East German states have a large nonreligious majority. Due to losses of both the Protestant churches and the Catholic Church in Hamburg, this state has also joined the group of states with a non-religious majority.