Hundreds of thousands on their way outChurches in Germany can rely less and less on people’s support. What does it mean and what about it?

The fact that the total number of Catholics fell below 20 million in 2024 is a „step in the process“, Pickel told the German Catholic Information Agency (KNA).

Decline in hundreds of thousands

At the end of March, the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) published its church statistics for 2024. She did it simultaneously with the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The two largest churches in Germany again saw their membership drop by six figures.

In 2024, 321,611 people left the Catholic Church. According to DBK statistics, this church currently has approximately 19.8 million members, who make up 23.7 percent of the total population.

According to EKD statistics, 345,000 members left its councils during the same period. At the end of 2024, 17.98 million people belonged to the 20 regional evangelical churches. Together, they account for 21.5 per cent of the total population in Germany.

Almost every second German therefore belongs to one of these two churches. But at the same time, up to 39 million citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany have no religion. This result was reached for the past year by the Worldviews Research Group in Germany (Fowid) at the beginning of April 2025.

While in 1990 approximately 57.9 million Germans belonged to one of the two largest churches, today it is almost 20 million less. At the same time, the population of the Federal Republic of Germany grew. This resulted in both largest churches losing more than a quarter of their members since then.

For the first time, their number fell below 50 percent of the total population in 2021.

Although the number of people who left the church in 2024 is again at a high level, it is lower in both largest churches than in the previous year 2023. A negative record was set in 2022 when 522,000 people withdrew from the Catholic Church.

Reasons for decline

A decrease in the number of church members is possible to explain several factors.

There are fewer and fewer young people who grew up with a church background. The number of children without a religion is increasing. Even later, relatively few people find their way into the church.

On the other hand, 548,000 members of both major churches died in 2024 alone. This is reported by DBK and EKD statistical data.

The low number of new members and those who rejoined the churches contrasts with the number of people who left the churches.

So what are the main reasons for leaving the church?

Independent company

Modern society does not have church – mostly very conservative – ideas about social coexistence. Many consider them obsolete.

Despite the separation of church and state, ties are still diverse, but a large part of society acts more and more independently of church life. Especially young people turned away from the church. Thus, other life models came to the fore.

Churches are thus still considered an indicator in moral and ethical decisions. However, controversial statements by senior officials regularly cause outrage. Many critically perceive the interference of churches in social and private life.

The slow pace of churches during reforms

Against the background of the departure of many people, the churches in Germany are faced with the task of adapting the institution to modern society. These are issues such as the treatment of homosexuals, the role of women, abortion or celibacy in the Catholic Church.

Since these are polarizing topics, there is often a sharp exchange of views in the churches themselves.

After the revelations of abuse scandals in the early 21st century, churches found themselves in a crisis of confidence. Ordinary believers have been deeply affected by the scandals of the decades-long cover-up of sexual abuse of minors. The churches themselves are still struggling today with how to properly respond to scandals and how to process them.

The Catholic Church is particularly hard hit. As a result of these events, it found itself in a deep crisis of confidence. Cases of abuse have been documented in all German bishoprics, the victims number in the tens of thousands. At the same time, the actual number of cases is probably much higher.

Critics accuse Catholic Church officials of continuing to cover up the perpetrators, obstructing the clarification of cases and failing to provide adequate compensation to victims.

Church tax

And finally, it’s about money – church tax. Christian churches levy a rate of eight or nine percent of income tax on membership. Depending on income, the church tax can reach several hundred euros per year.

When money is scarce and identification with the church decreases at a time of high inflation, the cost of church membership comes into view.

The income of the churches is still high. Last but not least, thanks to generally high tax revenues. Over the past five years, the two largest churches in Germany have recorded revenues of more than ten billion euros per year. The latest complete value for 2023 reached 13.3 billion euros.

What are the consequences of leaving the church?

Churches and church associations lose considerable income due to the departure of their members, which can threaten the financing of church projects. Many charities, such as charity and diaconia, are associated with the two largest churches in Germany.

At the same time, these two churches are among the largest employers in the country. As the founders of the relevant businesses and facilities, they currently employ more than a million people.

Some educational facilities – kindergartens, primary and universities – are also under church administration. There are also church facilities in the field of healthcare. The costs of them are at least partially covered by church taxes.

Churches in Germany also have thousands of monuments, among which there are historical churches and monasteries, the maintenance of which they also finance from church taxes.

DBK chairman Georg Bätzing, after presenting church statistics for 2024, called for no turning a blind eye to the numbers. „Joy news has not diminished – but must be given to people differently and believably,“ said the bishop of Limburg.

People continue to have high expectations of the church, especially in the areas of education, upbringing, charity and social responsibility. These expectations must be the guiding line with increasingly limited resources. „ It is necessary to identify areas of the future that are close to the reality of people’s lives – especially young people and their families.“

The President of the EKD Council, Kirsten Fehrsová, in turn declared that the church, which can rely less and less on solidarity support from people, must choose more in the future, where it can be particularly effective with its limited means.

What are churches doing against the growing number of performances?

Members and representatives of the Catholic Church have been trying for a long time for a comprehensive package of reforms. Since 2019, a project called Synodal Path has served as a forum for discussion by those open to reform. Changes should take place in the following areas: the life of priests, functions for Catholic women, celibacy, concentration of power.

They promise each other that this will once again create a closer bond between the church and its members. However, the path to this goal is questionable. Some high-ranking clergy, starting with the late Pope Francis through several bishops, have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the direction the German Synodal Way is taking.

A bishop criticizing the German Synodal Way resigned Gregor Maria Hanke 

Although churches benefit annually from high tax revenues and can thus financially compensate for the loss of members, depending on the diocese, they reach for austerity measures.

The decreasing number of church members, the cost of maintaining churches, but also the lack of full-time priests ( missing, for example, new priests) have recently led to the fact that, that dioceses in some places are switching to a kind of basic care. This also includes merging parishes or closing churches.

The revelation of many cases of sexual abuse led to a massive crisis of trust in the church. And yet the processing process is slow. The IKA Commission, set up by the Catholic Church, complained of many obstacles in February 2025.

The Evangelical Church has recently relied on an independent team of researchers to identify 2,225 victims and 1,259 suspected perpetrators.