More Spaniards now call themselves atheists than practicing Catholics, state poll finds
The September 2026 barometer from Spain's Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas found that 17.1 percent of respondents described themselves as atheists, against 15.9 percent who said they were practicing Catholics. It is the first time atheists have outnumbered practicing Catholics in the series
More respondents have identified as atheists than as practicing Catholics for the first time in the survey series of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), Spain's state polling institute. In its barometer for September 2026, 17.1 percent said they were atheists and 15.9 percent said they were practicing Catholics.
The gap has narrowed in recent years. In May 2019, 23.2 percent of respondents called themselves practicing Catholics and 11 percent called themselves atheists. By the May 2022 barometer, practicing Catholics had fallen to 17.3 percent and atheists had risen to 14.8 percent. In July 2026, practicing Catholics stood at 16 percent and atheists at 15.2 percent.
The rest of the sample broke down as follows: 38.5 percent described themselves as non-practicing Catholics, 3.2 percent as believers in another religion, 12.2 percent as agnostics and 11.3 percent as indifferent or non-believers. The CIS survey asks: "How do you define yourself in religious terms: practicing Catholic, non-practicing Catholic, believer of another religion, agnostic, indifferent or non-believer, or atheist?"
