Brazilia, Brazil - Evangelicals in Brazil, in particular members of the Pentecostal and neoPentecostal Churches have grown significantly in recent decades, however, in percentage terms the most explosive growth has taken place among those who profess no religion, according to the most recent census.
It is estimated that 15.4 percent of an estimated 169.7 million people are Evangelical while in 2000 those who do not profess any religion represented 7.3 percent.
In 1940, when Evangelicals numbered 2.6 percent of the population, those who did not profess any religion were no more than 0.2 percent. As a result, over the past 60 years that final sector has grown 3,000 percent.
Rio de Janeiro congregates the highest number of people who said they profess no religion in the 2000 census - 15.76 percent and it is also the state with the lowest number of Catholics - 59.19 percent when the average is 73.3 percent.
Rio de Janiero has the fourth highest number of Evangelicals - 13.3 percent after Rodonia, followed by Espirito Santo and Roraima.
Palmas in Tocantins is the capital with the highest number of Evangelicals according to the 2000 Census: 24.51 percent. It is followed by Río Branco (23.57 percent), capital of Acre; Boa Vista (23.15 percent), capital de Roraima; Goiania (23 percent), capital of Goiás; Vitoria (22.18 percent), capital of Espírito Santo; Manaus (22.18 percent), capital of Amazonas; and Porto Velho (21.98 percent), capital of Rondonia