Easter Sunday, along with Christmas, are the biggest celebrations of the year for the world’s 2.3 billion Christians. In fact, these may well be the only two days of the year when a Christian will go to church. Just over half of Canadians reported an affiliation to the Christian faith during the 2021 Census of Population, down from three-quarters at the beginning of the Millennium.
Over half of the Christians in Canada are Catholic
Approximately 3 in 10 (29.9%; 10.9 million people) Canadians reported an affiliation with the Catholic church during the 2021 Census. The United (1.2 million) and Anglican (1.1 million) churches were the next largest Christian denominations.
Just under 2.8 million people, or 7.6% of Canadians, reported being Christian without further indication of a specific denomination, double the figure from 2011 (1.4 million). In fact, people who simply reported being Christian (94.3%) and Orthodox Christians (13.1%) were the only groups within the Christian faith to grow from 2011 to 2021.
In fact, the share of Canadians reporting a Christian affiliation has decreased markedly since the turn of the century, falling from 77.1% in 2001 to 67.3% in 2011 and down to 53.3% in 2021.
Christian, but not necessarily church going
Just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Canadians about the importance of religious or spiritual beliefs in their lives. Approximately two-thirds (68%) of the Christians we asked reported that religious or spiritual beliefs played a somewhat or very important role in how they lived.
Just under one-third (31%) of Christians reported participating in group religious or spiritual activities at least once a month from 2017 to 2019, while 71% participated in groups or individually in religious or spiritual activities at least once during the year. Approximately 3 in 10 (29%) Christians did not participate in groups or individually to religious or spiritual activities at all .
Among the Christian denominations, Jehovah’s Witnesses (86%), Latter-Day Saints (80%), Anabaptists (75%) and Pentecostal and other Charismatics (72%) were the most likely to participate in group religious or spiritual activities at least once a month, while Anglican and United Church members were the least likely to do so (19% for both).
Over 1 million Christians have immigrated to Canada since 2011
Just under 1.1 million Black Canadians reported an affiliation with the Christian faith in 2021. Filipinos (898,050 people) were the second largest group of racialized Canadians reporting an affiliation to the Christian faith, followed by Latin Americans (427,065), Chinese (347,245) and South Asians (245,035). Over two-thirds (70.1%) of Canada’s racialized Christians were born outside Canada.
Among the world’s most popular religions, more Christians (1,026,175 people) immigrated to Canada from 2011 to 2021 than did Muslims (463,735), Hindus (220,975), Sikhs (141,710), Buddhists (42,860) and Jews (14,685) combined.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).