- Summary
- Adherents
- Religious Freedom
- Socio-economic
- Public Opinion
Religious Adherents1 |
Brazil | South America | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baha'i | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Buddhist | 0.3% | 0.2% | 5.8% |
| Chinese Universalist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 5.8% |
| Christian | 91.3% | 92.3% | 33.3% |
| Confucianist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Ethnoreligionist | 0.2% | 0.6% | 4.0% |
| Hindu | 0.0% | 0.1% | 13.6% |
| Jain | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Jewish | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Muslim | 0.1% | 0.3% | 20.8% |
| Shintoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sikh | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% |
| Spiritist | 4.9% | 2.7% | 0.2% |
| Taoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Zoroastrian | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Other Religions | 0.3% | 0.2% | 1.6% |
| Neo-religions | 0.3% | 0.2% | -- |
| Non-religious | 2.6% | 2.8% | 11.7% |
| Atheist | 0.3% | 0.5% | 2.3% |
Religious Demography
The country has an area of 3,286,488 square miles and a population of 188,078,200. Nearly all major religious groups are present. Many citizens worship in more than one church or participate in the rituals of more than one religion. The 2000 census taken by the Geographic and Statistical Institute of Brazil (IBGE) indicated that approximately 74 percent of the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, although only a small percentage regularly attended Mass. Approximately 15 percent of the population was Protestant, an estimated 85 percent of whom were Pentecostal or evangelical. These groups included the Assemblies of God, Christian Congregation of Brazil, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, the Quadrangular Gospel, God is Love, Maranata, Brazil for Christ, House of the Blessing, New Life, and others. Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists, Congregationalists, and others accounted for most of the remaining Protestants and were centered in the south. In the 2000 census, 199,645 residents identified themselves as belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), but the church listed its current membership as 970,903. According to the 2000 census, there were approximately 214,873 adherents of Buddhism and 151,080 adherents of other oriental religious groups. The Japanese-Brazilian community practiced Shintoism to a limited degree. There are 17,088 adherents of indigenous traditions, and 2,905 Hindus. Followers of African and syncretic religious groups such as Candomble totaled 127,582, while followers of Umbanda totaled 397,431. There were no statistics on the number of followers of Xango or of Macumba; however, data from the same study indicated that followers of Afro-Brazilian religious groups totaled 0.3 percent of the population. Followers of spiritism, mainly Kardecists-adherents of the doctrine expounded by Frenchman Allan Kardec in the 19th century-constituted approximately 1.3 percent, with 2,262,401 followers. There were 25,889 practitioners of Spiritualism. An estimated 7 percent did not practice any religion, and approximately 384,000 participants did not respond to the census. Reliable figures on the number of Muslims do not exist. Muslim leaders estimated that there were between 700,000 and 3 million Muslims, with the lower figure representing those who actively practiced their religion, while the higher estimate included also nominal members. These figures are much higher than the 27,239 Muslims reported in the 2000 census. There are significant Muslim communities in São Paulo, the ABC industrial suburbs of the greater São Paulo city area, and in the Santos area. There are also communities in Parana state in the coastal region and in Curitiba and Foz do Iguazu in the triborder area. The community is overwhelmingly Sunni; the recent Shiite immigrants gravitate to small insular communities in São Paulo, Curitiba, and Foz do Iguazu, whereas the Sunnis are for the most part completely assimilated into broader society. Sunni and Shi'a Islam are practiced predominantly by immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt who arrived during the past 25 years. Conversions to Islam have increased recently among non-Arab citizens. There are approximately 52 mosques, Islamic religious centers, and Islamic associations. According to the Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB), there are 119,560 Jewish persons of whom 60,000 are in São Paulo state and 40,000 in Rio de Janeiro state. Many other cities have smaller Jewish communities. Foreign missionary groups are present.2
Sources
Note: All country histories and flags were obtained from The World Factbook, 2008.
1. The World Christian Database (WCD) is based on the 2600-page award-winning World Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Trends, first published in 1982 and revised in 2001. This extensive work on World religion is now completely updated and integrated into the WCD online database. Designed for both the casual user and research scholar, information is readily available on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demographic statistics. Additional secular data is incorporated on population, health, education, and communications. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
2. The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
