Most people in the Caribbean Netherlands belong to a religious group

On Bonaire and Saba, Catholicism is by far the largest religion, with the respective shares of those belonging to the Roman Catholic church at 60 and 50 percent. On St Eustatius, there are three religious groups of approximately the same size: Methodists (25 percent), Roman Catholics (23 percent) and Seventh-Day Adventists (19 percent).

Decline in religion on St Eustatius

On St Eustatius, the percentage of people who say they are part of a religious denomination or ideological group decreased from 85 percent in 2017 to 78 percent in 2021. There were no significant differences between these years on Bonaire and Saba.

However, the percentage of Evangelists on Bonaire rose from 3 percent in 2017 to 6 percent in 2021. On St Eustatius, the percentage of people describing themselves as Pentecostals fell from 7 percent in 2017 to 3 percent in 2021.

Lower educated more likely to be religious

On Bonaire and Saba, people with a low level of education are more likely to be religious than highly educated people. The greatest difference is seen on Saba, where 92 percent of the lower educated population are religious, against 72 percent of those with medium or high education level. On St Eustatius, more women (88 percent) than men (68 percent) are religious.
In the European Netherlands, a much smaller share of the population consider themselves to be part of a religious denomination or ideological group: 43 percent in 2022.