Radiography of Religious Minorities in Spain: an Estimation of their Size and Characteristics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.114

Keywords:

religion, minorities, confessions, religious beliefs, methodology, inmigration, statistical sources, quantification, Muslims, Catholics

Abstract

This article studies religious minorities in Spain using different data sources. On the one hand,  it  analyses  six  nationally  representative  opinion  surveys  carried  out  between  2018  and 2023 and discusses their methodological limitations. According to these surveys, bet-ween 4% and 6.3% of Spanish residents of legal age belong to a non-Catholic religion. On the other hand, data from the EPA are used, whose analysis suggests that the actual percen-tage of religious minorities may be twice as high. Including minors, the figure could reach 12.6% of the population in 2024 (6.1 million people), of which 2.6 million would be Muslim. The opinion surveys analysed show a unique socio-demographic profile of religious mino-rities. However, given the problems of statistical under-representation of this group, new, more accurate and adequate data sources are urgently needed.

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Author Biographies

Jacobo Muñoz Comet, National University of Distance Education

Doctor en Sociología con mención europea por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), licenciado en Sociología (UNED) y licenciado en Periodismo (UCM). Ha sido investigador visitante en la Universidad Libre de Ámsterdam (VU), Universidad de Mannheim, Universidad de Oxford y Universidad de Ámsterdam (UvA). Su investigación centrada en la inmigración, la desigualdad social y el mercado laboral ha sido publicada en revistas internacionales como European Sociological Review, Work, Employment & Society, International Migration Review, y Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Juan Ignacio Martínez Pastor, National University of Distance Education

Doctor en Sociología por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). Ha sido Director del Departamento de Investigación del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) y Vicedecano de Investigación de la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología de la UNED. Analiza el mercado laboral, la estratificación social, la nupcialidad, el divorcio, el capital erótico y el modo en el que se interpretan y difunden las estadísticas sociales. Sus trabajos han sido publicados en revistas internacionales como European Sociological Review, Demographic Research, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, y Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

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Published

2025-07-02

How to Cite

Muñoz Comet, J., & Martínez Pastor, J. I. (2025). Radiography of Religious Minorities in Spain: an Estimation of their Size and Characteristics. CENTRA Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 11–34. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.114

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