Keeping the faith: Filipinos are most religious people in Canada

By Carlito Pablo

When the going gets tough, Filipinos most often turn to their faith for solace.

Through generations, faith has sustained Filipinos through hardships and adversity.

The Philippines is known as one of the most religious countries in the world, and it’s no wonder that Filipinos abroad have kept the faith.

In Canada, Filipinos have the highest rate of religious affiliation, making them the most religious people in The Great White North.

A Statistics Canada study states that nine in 10 Filipinos report a religious affiliation.

“The concept of religious affiliation refers to a person’s self-identified connection to or affiliation with any religious denomination, group, body, or other religiously defined community or system of belief. It is not limited to formal membership in a religious organization,” the paper explained.

The study noted that based on the 2021 Census, 94.3 percent of Filipinos reported a religious affiliation.

In comparison, the rate of religious affiliation for the total population in Canada was 65.4 percent; 72.5 percent in other racialized groups; and 62.7 percent in the non-racialized, non-Indigenous population.

The paper also noted that Filipinos who reported having no religion or having secular perspectives made up a small proportion at 5.7 percent.

The said rate of Filipinos having no religion is much lower compared with over one-third of the non-racialized, non-Indigenous population (37.3 percent), and about one-fourth of other racialized groups (27.5 percent).

The study is titled “Portrait of the Filipino Populations in Canada: A Sociodemographic and Socioeconomic Analysis”.

Written by analyst Sajjad Taghizadeh Imani, the comprehensive report was released by Statistics Canada on June 2, 2026.

Interestingly, Filipinos in Canada identify with many religious strains.

The study noted that in 2021, Filipinos reported more than 50 distinct religious affiliations.

Not surprisingly, Filipinos in Canada are predominantly Roman Catholic.

Nearly three in four Filipino people in Canada report being Roman Catholic, the study noted.

In detail, more than nine in 10 Filipinos (93.8 percent) identified as Christian, which is higher than the non-racialized, non-Indigenous population at 59.9 percent and other racialized populations (31.3 percent).

The study noted that more than three-quarters (77.2 percent) of Filipino Christians or 72.4 percent of Filipinos reported being Roman Catholic. 

“The history of the Philippines, marked by Spanish colonization and the subsequent influence of the Roman Catholic Church, has shaped current religious affiliations among Filipino populations, both in the Philippines and in diasporic communities such as those in Canada,” the paper explained.

The Roman Catholic affiliation of Filipinos in Canada largely mirrors that in the Philippines, the bastion of Catholicism in Asia.

A report by the Philippine Statistics Authority on February 22, 2023 noted that Roman Catholics account for 78.8 percent of the household population.

Of the 108,667,043 household population in 2020, nearly four fifths or 85,645,362 persons (78.8 percent) reported being Roman Catholics, according to the PSA report titled “Religious Affiliation in the Philippines (2020 Census of Population and Housing)”.

Roman Catholicism was followed by Islam with 6,981,710 persons (6.4 percent), and Iglesia ni Cristo with 2,806,524 persons (2.6 percent). 

“In 2015, these were also the top three religious affiliations in the country,” the PSA report noted.

Completing the top ten religious affiliations in 2020 in the Philippines are Seventh Day Adventist, and Aglipay (0.8 percent each); Iglesia Filipina Independiente (0.6 percent); Bible Baptist Church (0.5 percent); and United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Jehovah’s Witness, and Church of Christ (0.4 percent each). 

The June 2, 2026 report by Statistics Canada revealed that religion is becoming less relevant to new generations in Canada.

“While Catholicism remained the most significant denomination regardless of generation status, the proportion of people reporting this affiliation decreased across generations, from 74.1% in the first generation to 52.7% in the third generation or more,” the study noted. 

Meanwhile, the paper continued, the proportion of those who reported having no religion or having secular perspectives increased from 3.3 percent in the first generation to 32.6 percent in the third generation or more.