Chile

Though 72 percent of its population is Catholic, Chile looks at many times to be quite secular, and at other times quite Catholic. Spontaneous shrines, often markers of a tragic death, dot the country’s roadsides with crosses and religious statues. Hundreds of thousands journey to Marian feasts held throughout the country.  On issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, Chileans have recently reversed prior legal bans.  In recent years, even since some of the articles here were published, revelations of clergy sexual abuse have radically undermined the Church's credibility there, and the church's influence on the ground is seriously diminished. 

    Religious Affiliation
    Chart source: Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 2010
    Total Population
    18,197,209 1
    Urban
    87.60% 1
    Rural
    12.40% 1
    Immigrants as % of Population
    2.6% 2
    Level of Public Corruption
    24 (1=lowest, 176=highest corruption) 4
    Gender Equality in the Economy, Health, Education and Politics
    70 (1=most equal, 144=least equal) 7
    Fertility Rate
    1.75 births per adult woman 5
    Children Who Do Not Live to Age 5
    0.80% 5
    Life Expectancy at Birth
    82 years 5
    Adult Literacy Rate
    96.70% 5
    Internet Users
    72% 5
    Gross National Income per Capita
    US$14,910 5
    Population Living Below US$1.90 per Day
    0.9% 5

    These statistics are derived from the Vatican's official publication, Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022). The numbers may differ from data reported by other sources on this site.

    Baptized Catholics
    14,405,000
    Baptized Catholics as % of Total Population
    74.03
    Baptisms per Year (Under age 7)
    78,064
    Baptisms per Year (Over age 7)
    14,505
    First Communions per Year
    32,064
    Confirmations per Year
    29,435
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Primary Schools
    377,383
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Secondary Schools
    214,154
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Higher Education
    205,039
    Church Marriages per Year
    6,894
    Church Marriages in Which Both Spouses are Catholics
    6,449
    Priests
    1,982
    Women Religious (Nuns & Sisters)
    3,353
    Catholics per Priest
    7,268
    Parishes
    974
    Mission Stations (no resident priests)
    10
    Catholic Hospitals
    14
    Homes for Aged, Handicapped, Invalids
    76
    • 1 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
    • 2 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
    • 3 United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
    • 4 Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
    • 5 UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
    • 6 Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022).
    • 7 World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.