According to a new study published by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), the nation with the best Catholic Mass attendance in the world could be Nigeria.
When asked the question “Apart from weddings, funerals and christenings, about how often do you attend religious services these days?” 94% of self-identified Nigerian Catholics surveyed said they attend weekly or daily Mass.
The poll was conducted by the World Values Survey (WVS), which began tracking the data in the 1980s and has statistics for 36 countries with large Catholic populations. CARA said it’s not known exactly which country has the highest Mass attendance rate, “because surveys have not been conducted on the topic in every country in the world.”
Among those surveyed by WVS, aside from Nigeria, weekly or more frequent Mass attendance is highest among adult self-identified Catholics in Kenya (73%) and Lebanon (69%). Catholic Mass attendance in the United States is about 24%.