Nicaragua
POPULATION 5,023,818
ROMAN CATHOLIC 75.9 percent
PROTESTANT 18.7 percent
JEHOVAH'S WITNESS 1.4 percent
OTHER 4.0 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
Nicaragua, with an area of 50,446 square miles, is the largest Central American country. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Caribbean Sea on the east. Tropical forests make up more than one third of its territory. The capital, Managua, is located on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Various mountain ranges, with a number of active volcanoes, run through the country. Many communities are notably isolated; hence their congregations are highly autonomous.
The Roman Catholic Church entered Nicaragua with the Spanish colonists in 1522 and was a part of the colonial administration until the country achieved independence in 1821. The first Protestant missionaries traveled to Nicaragua in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1963, 96 percent of the population had considered itself Roman Catholic. By 2000 the percentage had decreased to almost 76 percent. At the national level, however, the Roman Catholic Church has remained the dominant religious group and exercises considerable political influence.
Many Nicaraguans are practicing members of two churches or are registered at multiple churches while actually visiting only one. These double affiliations make it difficult to compile accurate statistics about religious practices.
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