Barcelona is seeing a clear shift in how residents identify religiously, with non-believers now making up 47% of the city, according to the Ajuntament de Barcelona's Office of Religious Affairs 2024 Activity Report.

The report says Catholic Christianity is still the largest single confession, at 39% of residents. Non-believers account for 29%, while agnostics make up 18%. Other Christian confessions, including Protestant, Evangelical, Jehovah's Witnesses and Orthodox churches, represent 5% of the population. The Muslim community stands at 4%, and Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh religions together make up 1%.

Barcelona also has 535 centres of worship. Catholic Christianity accounts for 233 of them, or 43.6%, while evangelical Christian centres total 182, or 34%. Muslim communities operate 39 Islamic oratories, which is 7.3% of the city's worship spaces.

Across the city's 10 districts, the spread is uneven. Eixample has the most centres, with 69, followed by Nou Barris with 66, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi with 63, Sants-Montjuïc with 61, Sant Martí with 59, Horta-Guinardó with 55, and Ciutat Vella and Sant Andreu with 53 each. Gràcia has 37 centres, while Les Corts has the fewest, with 19.

Evangelical temples now outnumber Catholic churches in four districts, Sants-Montjuïc, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Sant Martí. Catholic centres still lead in Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Les Corts, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Gràcia and Horta-Guinardó. Sarrià-Sant Gervasi has the highest number of Catholic centres, with 47, while Nou Barris leads in evangelical presence with 39 temples.

The Office of Religious Affairs says its work helps the city understand and support different faith communities. It recently held a discussion with representatives from several beliefs about how they experience major events, including a papal visit. Participants included Moriah Ferrús, spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Barcelona, Peio Sánchez, rector of Santa Anna parish, Mohammad Iqbal, spokesperson for the Islamic Cultural Centre Camí de la Pau, and Albert Riba, president of Atheists of Catalonia and spokesperson for "I Don't Wait For You".

For more Barcelona coverage, see our Community and Sport pages. Originally published by betevé, read the original article.