ABOUT 78.8% of the Philippine household population are Roman Catholics, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, citing data from the 2020 census.
The country’s household population in 2020 was 108.67 million. Of the total, 85.65 million individuals recorded their religious affiliation as Roman Catholics, based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing.
Religious affiliation, as defined by the report, refers to a particular system of beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and behaviors representing a person’s relationship with the powers and principalities of the universe.
Households whose members are affiliated with Islam stood at 6.98 million or 6.4% of the total, while those affiliated with the Iglesia Ni Cristo totaled 2.81 million or 2.6%.
These faith groups were also the three leading religious affiliations in 2015, the PSA said.
Bicol logged the highest number of Roman Catholics among the country’s 17 regions with 5.67 million or 93.5% of its almost 6.1 million population. Eastern Visayas came second with 4.18 million or 92.3% of the region’s population, followed by Central Visayas with 7.28 million, representing 90.5%.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) posted the least number of Roman Catholics with 261,963 or 5.3% of the total household population.
By highly urbanized cities, Mandaue City in Cebu province logged the highest proportion of Roman Catholics with 343,621, accounting for 95.2% of its total population of 361,051, the PSA said.
Ranking second was Cebu City with 94.7%, and Tacloban City with 93.5%.
By province, Albay led with the highest proportion of Catholics with 1.32 million individuals or 96.2%, followed by Catanduanes with 95.6% and Eastern Samar with 95.3%.
BARMM’s Muslim population was 4.49 million or 90.9% of its 4.94 million total population. Zamboanga Peninsula had 703,823 Islam followers or 18.2% of its 3.86 million population.
The PSA noted that the Roman Catholic data excluded Catholic Charismatics numbering 74,096 individuals.
The local statistical agency conducted the 2020 census in September 2020 with May 1, 2020, as the reference date. — Abigail Marie P. Yraola