thumbnail

Catholic Countries in Europe

Name the European countries that have the most Catholics, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage.
Based on data from Wikipedia
Not necessarily practicing Catholics
Quiz by Quizmaster
Rate:
Last updated: July 9, 2024
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedAugust 12, 2017
Times taken85,403
Average score83.3%
Rating4.86
2:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 18 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
%
Country
100
Vatican City
93.8
San Marino
88.2
Andorra
82.6
Malta
82.3
Monaco
80.2
Portugal
79.0
Croatia
78.8
Liechtenstein
77.2
Italy
77.2
Lithuania
#
Country
45.3 m
Italy
35.6 m
France
31.0 m
Poland
30.3 m
Spain
20.0 m
Germany
8.20 m
Portugal
5.92 m
Belgium
6.16 m
United Kingdom
4.67 m
Austria
4.71 m
Hungary
67 Comments
+35
Level 67
Aug 13, 2017
On one of my featured quizzes, the main conversation in the comments is that Cyprus is European, not Asian. And in my quiz I said it was Asian, and I just typed Cyprus as an answer and went "Man, am I a Hypocrite?"
+13
Level 70
Aug 13, 2017
Glad you brought that up WolfCam as the last couple of quizzes I've done have not mentioned Cyprus and I sort of miss not hearing peoples opinion on that. I get the same problem with Burma.
+3
Level 67
Aug 14, 2017
If you want to hear the whole argument try my Asian Island Nations quiz. The comments section (which you have contributed to) is particularly interesting.
+36
Level 73
Dec 28, 2020
People claim Burma is in Europe? Wild
+2
Level 76
Jan 10, 2021
@James you made my day!
+2
Level 56
Nov 23, 2017
Catholic Cyprus? Interesting.
+3
Level 79
Sep 6, 2017
nice - I think a picture of Saint Peter's would be more appropriate though
+9
Level 58
Nov 23, 2017
? Everyone is a critic, it seems.
+3
Level 66
Nov 24, 2017
Critics are the worst!
+4
Level 79
Apr 12, 2021
Huh? That's the central statue on the facade of St. Peter's.
+3
Level 66
Nov 23, 2017
On the Europe/Asia matter...I live in Germany, and in 2016, i saw that the Formula 1 "European Grand Prix" was being held in Azerbaijan. I asked college educated colleagues of mine "How's that possible?" The best answer i could get was that Azerbaijan "identifies as European". You can read articles where politically it wants to be Europe and it seems to be enough for it to be politically Europe to end up being geographically Europe. It's so much easier with all the other continents.
+6
Level 85
Nov 23, 2017
In the north it lies partly in Europe, though not Baku.
+4
Level 74
Dec 27, 2020
Try asking non-college educated people, they usually know more ;)
+3
Level 60
Nov 23, 2017
Remembered San Marino's existence with a second to go.
+1
Level 28
Nov 23, 2017
Only missed Poland. Gah!
+2
Level 59
Nov 24, 2017
I am surprised by the number of catholics in the UK. I thought they were all anglicans ?
+19
Level 80
Nov 1, 2019
No, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I had a go at wiping us out but they didn't quite succeed.
+7
Level 86
Dec 26, 2020
There aren't a ton of Catholics in Germany, either. But both the UK and Germany are listed due to their large populations. By percentage, the number of Catholics is fairly small.
+7
Level 79
Dec 26, 2020
There are more Catholics than Protestants in Germany.
+2
Level 72
Mar 4, 2025
Nearly the same though
+5
Level 76
Dec 26, 2020
To be honest, most of us aren't religious at all, which I see as a good thing.
+2
Level 63
Jan 19, 2021
It's fairly difficult to find out how many people are catholic and actually believe.
+1
Level 83
Nov 16, 2024
You can look at church attendance figures... no doubt sources differ but I heard the other day that around 5% of the UK population regularly attend church. That's including all denominations of Christianity, so if that is true, then the figure in this quiz for Catholics alone seems staggeringly high.
+1
Level 78
Feb 10, 2025
Most Catholics don't go to church regularly. But that doesn't mean they aren't Catholics.
+1
Level 64
Oct 27, 2020
I am french, and I am pretty sure those numbers are incorrect. There are not 50 millions of catholics out of 67 milions people in france. It would mean 75% of the population is catholic (which even the wikipedia page linked in the description of the quizz states a number around 50%). It is fairly rare in France to know a catholic person, I highly doubt it being above 20%.
+6
Level 85
Nov 27, 2020
It really depends on how the question is phrased in a survey or other criteria (if you're baptized, you're considered a Catholic by the church, no matter how atheist you are): "Estimates of the proportion of Catholics range between 41% and 88% of France's population, with the higher figure including lapsed Catholics and "Catholic atheists"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_France

It looks like about half of the kids are still baptized, though way less make it to confirmation.

+1
Level 68
May 11, 2023
Looks like it'll be majority Islam in the near future if current trends persist.
+3
Level 77
Dec 9, 2020
Was surprised when I didn't see Ukraine and Lithuania on here. Mind explaining why they weren't included?
+6
Level 59
Dec 14, 2020
They tend to practice Orthodox Christianity.
+10
Level 72
Dec 26, 2020
Ukraine, as HendogJP said, is mainly Orthodox. Lithuania narrowly misses first column (number of Catholics should be around 75%) and is too small (2.8 million in total) to make it to the second one.
+3
Level 63
Feb 3, 2021
However in Western Ukraine there are millions of Greek Catholics
+4
Level ∞
Jul 9, 2024
Lithuania is now on the quiz, having taking Ireland's place.
+2
Level 60
Dec 26, 2020
I was so close!!! Just missed Croatia and Hungary.
+1
Level 47
Dec 29, 2020
Got Belgium with 4 seconds to go. I was surprised about Germany and Austria being that high on the list.
+2
Level 35
Feb 4, 2021
The united kingdom is protestent and so as germany
+7
Level 46
Jul 19, 2021
They both may be mainly Protestant but on this quiz it is by population, so less then a majority of both populations are catholic, but because of the massive population of both, it is still on here.
+4
Level 71
Jul 9, 2024
That's not true. Large parts of southern Germany (such as Bavaria) and western Germany are traditionally Catholic.
+3
Level 66
Jul 10, 2024
Germany is more Catholic than Protestant.
+1
Level 50
Aug 31, 2024
It's close, Germany used to be more protestant than catholic (as recently as 2001 for example) and Germany would be even more protestant right now if the gdr/sed didn't happen.
+1
Level 74
Sep 1, 2024
The secularization of the east started long before East Germany existed.
+4
Level 69
Feb 28, 2021
I think I'm gonna move into Vatican so you have to update this quiz...
+3
Level 65
Sep 12, 2022
I think the data just uses citizens, not foreign residents, and unfortunately being Catholic (and working for the Catholic Church) is a literal requirement for citizenship of Vatican City.
+1
Level 20
Aug 4, 2023
Forgot Croatia...
+2
Level 56
Aug 12, 2023
Surprised the U.S.A wasn't on the list
+7
Level 80
Jul 10, 2024
It would have to identify as European.
+2
Level 55
Sep 29, 2023
I don‘t Even know what the difference is between catholics ans Other christians baut i Managed to get 15/18 😅
+5
Level 83
Dec 6, 2023
I'm pretty sure if you ask literally any Christian regardless of denomination they'll be able to give you a long list of differences, objective or not... But it's a lot to do with the perceived importance of faith and scripture. One of Martin Luther's most famous interventions in Bible translation (which he vehemently denied, claiming it was a matter of grammar not theology) was saying that 'faith ALONE' was necessary to get into Heaven, which miffed Catholic authorities who had been telling people they needed to confess their sins and donate to the Church as well as believe. Catholics also believed until very recently that only Church authorities were able to interpret the Bible on behalf of the populace, so it shouldn't be translated into 'vernacular' languages.
+3
Level 93
Jul 10, 2024
It’s a good question.

Something to do with the nature of transubstantiation - ie whether the bread in holy communion represents, or literally becomes, the flesh of Christ.

Theological nuance, definitely worth the deaths of millions of humans throughout history…

Gotta love religion eh?

+1
Level 83
Nov 16, 2024
To be honest I think the violence has historically been more due to the religion of whoever is in power, and their insistence on their religion being the ONLY religion. Catholics and Protestants are the most prominent pair of historical "enemies", but in countries ruled by both Catholics and Protestants, "dissenters" of any denomination have rarely been treated very well. It's more about simple difference and perceived disobedience than pernickety points of theology.
+2
Level 77
Jun 14, 2024
Needs to be updated re Ireland. Have a look a the 2022 Census results - 69%.
+1
Level ∞
Jul 9, 2024
Updated.
+7
Level 72
Jul 9, 2024
this is quite shocking :O I thought that they'd make the top 5 and they're not even among the top 10
+1
Level 65
May 26, 2025
That's sad for me to hear. I knew things were declining - and there are many reasons I can empathize with for that - but to think that Catholic identity is being lost that rapidly is a bummer.
+8
Level 81
Jul 10, 2024
Surprised that Ireland is not on this list
+1
Level 93
Jul 10, 2024
They arrived in the modern world. Fair play to them…
+3
Level 77
Jul 10, 2024
Census of Population 2022 - 69% of people ticked the "Catholic" option and many admitted that they're non-practicing but ticked the box anyway.
+2
Level 76
Jul 11, 2024
Amazing - I thought that was the whole point of their fighting for independence from Great Britain!
+5
Level 51
Jul 15, 2024
not quite...
+1
Level 72
Apr 13, 2025
Apart from perhaps the famine they fabricated
+1
Level 71
Sep 1, 2024
It was until the latest update.
+1
Level 74
Jul 19, 2024
Just missed Lithuania before time ran out
+1
Level 58
Aug 31, 2024
Typed the last one with one second left oufffff !!!!
+4
Level 43
Aug 31, 2024
poland is 87.6% catholic so it should be in the % label too
+1
Level 28
Aug 31, 2024
Finally Portugal is on a list
+1
Level 58
Sep 1, 2024
No Ireland? I thought there were a lot of Catholics because they only legalized abortion back in 2018.
+2
Level 43
Sep 7, 2024
Ireland isn't here? How weird. They are known for their Catholic tradition.
+1
Level 83
Nov 16, 2024
The 2022 census figures are at just under 70%, so high but not high enough for this quiz.