Map of Religions in Catalonia launched

El Mapa Religiós de Catalunya estrena web

Designed by the ISOR research group, the Mapa Religiós de Catalunya aims to disseminate knowledge on the religious minorities living in different Catalan regions. The map includes research data commissioned to the ISOR by the Government of Catalonia in the past 13 years, with the aim of also offering this information through the web.

27/10/2016

The research group ISOR (Investigacions en Sociologia de la Religió) of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has designed a website in which to offer information on the Religious Map of Catalonia, on the religious minorities existing in the country. The map includes research data funded by the Directorate General of Religious Affairs of the Government of Catalonia and commissioned to the researchers of the ISOR during thirteen years (2001-2014), with the aim of making this information available on the website.

The website includes figures, texts, maps, infographics and other materials which explain the current situation of religious minorities in Catalonia and which help to interpret this increasingly visible diversity.

It offers quantitative information, with specific data on each religion found in Catalonia: number of places of worship, history, presence of each religion according to areas, etc. And also qualitative information gathered through in-depth interviews to thirty key informants who offer their view and perception of the state and evolution of the Religious Map of Catalonia.

The map has registered 8,061 places of worship around the country, corresponding to 13 religions. According to the research team, this data demonstrates that the implementation of religious minorities in Catalonia has consolidated itself and grown considerably throughout the years. The religions to have grown most are, in the following order: the Evangelical Churches, Islam, Oriental Churches and Buddhism.

All resources offered by the website, compiled up to 2014 by sociologists specialising in religious diversity, have been gathered since 2001, moment in which the research began as an initiative of Joan Estruch, UAB professor and founder of ISOR.

The Directorate General of Religious Affairs of the Government of Catalonia is in charge of maintaining this project by gathering data on the religious minorities in Catalonia, and which has been also created in other regions of Spain.