The Roman Catholic share of the population in several Latin American countries has shrunk over the last 10 years, while a growing percentage of adults in the region are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular."

This is the finding of new data released by Pew Research Center on Jan. 21.

Catholicism still appears to be Latin America's largest religion, according to Pew surveys in six of the region's most populous countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru according to the research..

While a growing number of adults in Latin America are religiously unaffiliated, religious attitudes like belief in God are still widespread across the region, the new data by Pew Research shows.

By its measures, Latin Americans are generally more religious than many other populations. In fact, unaffiliated people in Latin America are about as religious as Christians in Europe, on average.

The Catholic share of the population in several Latin American countries has shrunk over the last 10 years, while a growing percentage of Latin American adults are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular."

Today, Catholics make up 46 percent to 67 percent of the adult population in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, while the share of adults who are religiously unaffiliated ranges from 12 percent to 33 percent.

Still, the Catholic shares have dropped by 9 percentage points or more in all six countries over the past decade, while the percentages of adults who are unaffiliated have risen by 7 points or more.

In several countries, unaffiliated adults – sometimes called religious "nones" – now outnumber Protestants.

Despite these shifts, Latin Americans remain quite religious, on average. For instance:

Belief in God is widespread, with around nine-in-ten or more adults surveyed in each country saying they believe in God.

Religion matters deeply to many people in the region, with about half or more of adults surveyed in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru saying religion is very important in their lives.

Prayer is fairly common, with majorities of Brazilian, Colombian and Peruvian adults saying they pray at least once a day.

By these measures, Latin Americans are more religious than adults in many other countries the Center has surveyed in recent years, especially in Europe, where many adults have left Christianity since childhood.

Moreover, Latin Americans are about as likely to believe in God as they were a decade ago. Even among religiously unaffiliated adults surveyed across the region, majorities say they believe in God.

The Pew report focuses on the six Latin American nations that were included in a 2024 survey of 36 countries worldwide.

Together, the six countries contain about 495 million people, or roughly three-quarters of the entire population of Latin America and the Caribbean.