The most widely practiced religion in Barcelona is Catholic Christianity but secularization is strong, in line with the Spanish and other Western European trends.[1] [2] After Christianity, Islam is the second largest religion.[3] [4] [5] The city also has the largest Jewish community in Spain, with an estimated 3,500 Jewish residents.[6]
In 2011, data from a survey of religious practices showed that 49.5% of Barcelona's residents identified themselves as Catholic. This number dropped to 45% within the demographic of young people between the ages of 14 - 25.[7]
In 2019, a survey (data size of 587 respondents) by Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas showed that 53.2% of residents in Barcelona identified themselves as Catholic (9.9% practising Catholics, 43.3% non-practising Catholics).[8]
There are an estimated 3,500 Jewish residents in Barcelona.[6]
In 2014, 322,698 people in the province of Barcelona identified as Muslims, including 217,405 immigrants and 105,293 Spanish citizens.[5] [9]
The province of Barcelona has more than 70,000 pupils from Muslim background and more than 350,000 from a Christian background.[5] [9] In Barcelona, 90% of students that identify as Muslim do not have religious classes and that 90% of teachers of Islamic religion are unemployed. Just over 55% of Muslims in Barcelona identify as non-practising.[5] [9]
There are 26 Muslim places of worship in Barcelona.[10] Barcelona endorses model oratories around the city, a formula implemented by the socialist governments that the Socialists' Party of Catalonia defends. In Barcelona, there were 126 oratories in 2015 compared to 71 in 2004, showing considerable growth.[11]