The number of Catholics in Argentina is declining sharply, new study shows
A recent national survey reports that the number of Catholics in Argentina is declining. Analysts consider that the still-high percentage of people who believe in God - 82 per cent - is a sign that the Church has an opportunity to prevent further losses.
The second study conducted by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (Conicet, in Spanish) concerning creeds and religious attitudes was released in November 2019 and allowed the first comparison of historical data on such themes. Before the first edition was concluded in 2008, there was no reliable demographic information on religion. Argentina’s official census ceased to include questions about it in 1960.
Among other indicators presented in the survey, the accelerated reduction in the size of the Catholic flock in Argentina confirmed an overall Latin American trend.
Between 2008 and 2019, the proportion of Catholics in Argentina dropped from 77 per cent to 63 per cent. In 2014, a survey from the Pew Research Center reported that 69 per cent of the Latin American public identified as Catholic; in the 1960s, at least 90 per cent of the continent professed Catholicism.
“The 1960 census showed that Catholics represented 90 per cent of the population in Argentina,” comments Juan Cruz Esquivel, professor at the University of Buenos Aires and a Conicet researcher. He was part of the team that conducted the study.
Source: pch24.pl
