Religion in France

March 18, 2015 · updated December 18, 2023

East End, Bourges Cathedral
Exterior view of the ship-like choir and apse with flying buttresses. Bourges Cathedral (completed 1214) from the southeast. Holly Hayes
Fast Facts on France
Population 68,084,217 2021
Religions (%) Christian (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic) 63-66%, Muslim 7-9%, Buddhist 0.5-0.75%, Jewish 0.5-0.75%, other 0.5-1.0%, none 23-28%
Christianity 37,940,000 2020
Unaffiliated 20,830,000 2020
Islam 5,430,000 2020
Judaism 340,000 2020
Buddhism 310,000 2020
Indigenous/Folk Religions 250,000 2020
Other Religions 110,000 2020
Hinduism 40,000 2020

More than 25 percent of the French are nonbelievers or unaffiliated; among the religious, Roman Catholicism remains dominant by a wide margin. France is the homeland of the Protestant Reformer John Calvin, but Protestant Christianity remains a small minority.