Kiribati spreads 33 atolls and reef islands across an area of ocean roughly the size of India, straddling the equator and the International Date Line, though its population lives on a total land area of about 800 square kilometers. Christianity arrived through rival missions and the split still shapes the religious map: Roman Catholic missionaries working the southern Gilbert Islands from the 1880s built the largest single denomination today, close to 59 per cent, while London Missionary Society Protestants built what is now the Kiribati Uniting Church, about 21 per cent, formed by a 2010s union of the older Kiribati Protestant Church with other Congregationalist bodies, though a minority who rejected the merger continue as the Kiribati Protestant Church in its own right. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown rapidly enough that its own membership claims now exceed the census figure. The constitution protects freedom of religion, subject to reasonable limits for defense, public safety, order, morality or health, and religious groups whose membership reaches 2 per cent of the national population must register with the government. Formerly the Gilbert Islands, a British protectorate and then colony administered jointly with the Ellice Islands until the two territories split along ethnic lines in a 1974 referendum, Kiribati became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 12 July 1979. Rising seas threaten its low coral islands as directly as any nation on earth, and the government has pursued land purchases in Fiji as a long-term contingency.
Facts
Status
Legal StatusThe constitution provides for freedom of religion, which may be legally curtailed only where reasonably required in the interests of defense, public safety, public order, public morality or public health, and only where the curtailment is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. No church is established, and the country's Catholic and Protestant majorities and its smaller communities worship without government preference. 3 Classification
State Funding of ReligionState Restriction or Control of Religion 4 Government type (class) Law and State
Establishment Status Registration or Recognition RegimeA religious group whose membership reaches 2 percent of the national population, roughly 2,300 people on the most recent estimate, must register with the government. Smaller groups may worship and organize without registering. 3 Demographics
Religious CompositionAbout 59 per cent Roman Catholic and 21 per cent Kiribati Uniting Church, with roughly 8 per cent continuing as the separate Kiribati Protestant Church, a growing Latter-day Saint minority, and small Baha'i, Seventh-day Adventist and other Christian communities (Pew Research Center, Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020). 1 Government
Government Type Sovereignty StatusSovereign UN member state 2 Established Year Location
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Religion and History in Kiribati
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Kiribati spreads 33 atolls and reef islands across an area of ocean roughly the size of India, straddling the equator and the International Date Line, though its population lives on a total land area of about 800 square kilometers. Christianity arrived through rival missions and the split still shapes the religious map: Roman Catholic missionaries working the southern Gilbert Islands from the 1880s built the largest single denomination today, close to 59 per cent, while London Missionary Society Protestants built what is now the Kiribati Uniting Church, about 21 per cent, formed by a 2010s union of the older Kiribati Protestant Church with other Congregationalist bodies.
A minority who rejected that merger continue as the Kiribati Protestant Church in its own right, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown rapidly enough that its own membership claims now exceed the census figure. Formerly the Gilbert Islands, a British protectorate and colony administered jointly with the Ellice Islands until the two territories split along ethnic lines in a 1974 referendum, Kiribati became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 12 July 1979.
A Two Percent Registration Threshold in Kiribati
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The constitution protects freedom of religion, subject to reasonable limits for defense, public safety, order, morality or health, and religious groups whose membership reaches 2 per cent of the national population, roughly 2,300 people on the most recent estimate, must register with the government; smaller groups may worship and organize without registering. No church is established, and the country's Catholic and Protestant majorities and its smaller communities worship without government preference.
Kiribati's registration threshold is unusual among this atlas's Pacific entries for being expressed as a percentage of the whole population rather than a fixed membership count, which means the practical registration bar rises automatically as the country's population grows, a design that keeps the rule proportionate without requiring legislative amendment each time the census is updated.
Connections
Ancient and Historical Regions
Source United Nations Statistics Division: UN M49 Standard country or area codes for statistical use: geographic regions
Sources
1. Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020
2. The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency)
Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence AgencyGovernment, government type: KiribatiView the Source 3. International Religious Freedom Report
United States Department of State, Office of International Religious Freedom, US Department of State, 2023View the Source 4. The Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition
Oxford University Press, Oxford University Press- demonym / adjectival form
Entity description, state-funding
religious groups whose membership reaches 2 per cent of the national population must register with the government.
View the Source United Nations Statistics Division: UN M49 Standard country or area codes for statistical use: geographic regions
United Nations Statistics DivisionAncient and Historical Regions: Micronesia, Geographic regions table, MicronesiaQuote, Ancient and Historical Regions: Micronesia, Geographic regions table, Micronesia
Micronesia 057 Guam 316 GUM SIDS Kiribati 296 KIR LDC SIDS Marshall Islands 584 MHL SIDS Micronesia (Federated States of) 583 FSM SIDS Naoero 520 NRU SIDS Northern Mariana Islands 580 MNP SIDS Palau 585 PLW SIDS United States Minor Outlying Islands 581 UMI
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