The number of Catholics formally disaffiliating from the Church in Germany has fallen for the third year in a row, while the percentage of Catholics attending Mass has risen for the fourth consecutive year.
According to the new statistics, the number of people leaving fell to 307,117 in 2025, down from 321,659 in 2024, 402,694 in 2023, and 522,821 in 2022. A similar number left the similarly-sized Lutheran Church last year.
However, the figure had been as low as 162,093 as recently as 2016, before it spiked in 2022.
Meanwhile, the percentage of baptised Catholics attending Mass which fell from 10.4pc in 2015 to a low of 4.3pc in 2021 during the covid pandemic, has gradually recovered to 6.8pc in 2025.
Last year also saw a slight rise in the total number attending mass, as well as first communions and confirmations. However, baptisms and ordinations were both down,
The total number of Catholics in Germany decreased by 549,636 last year, to a new low of 19,219,601, when deaths, baptisms, new admissions, and resumptions of church membership are accounted for. In 2015, the number had been almost 24 million and has declined every year since then. The German population in general is ageing rapidly and the fertility rate has been well below replacement for decades.
