Survey: U.S. Catholic Hispanic population growing smaller, less religious

Overall, 40% of Americans nationwide are very religious based on respondents saying religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. Thirty-one percent of Americans are not religious, saying religion is not an important part of their daily life and that they seldom or never attend religious services. The remaining 29% of Americans are moderately religious, saying religion is important in their lives but that they do not attend services regularly or that religion is not important but that they still attend services.

The substantial difference in the religiosity of Catholic and Protestant Hispanics is reflective of a pattern found in the U.S. population overall. Fifty-one percent of all Protestants, including those who identify themselves as Christian but not Catholic, are very religious, compared with 43% of all Catholics. But this eight-percentage-point gap among all Americans expands to 17 points among Hispanics, primarily because Hispanic Protestants are significantly more religious than all Protestants in the U.S. Hispanic Catholics, on the other hand, are no more religious than the general Catholic population.