Adult baptisms increased for the third consecutive year in Switzerland in 2025, but the country is not experiencing an adult baptism “boom.”
That is the conclusion of an analysis of new data by the Swiss Institute of Pastoral Sociology in St. Gallen, published following media reports of a surge in adult baptisms, especially in neighboring France.
There were 339 adult baptisms in 2025 in Switzerland, a Central European country with a population of 9 million people, 2.68 million of whom are Catholic.
The 2025 figure is the highest in more than a decade and marks an increase of 30% from 2024, when there were 261 adult baptisms, up from 223 in 2023.
Arnd Bünker, the head of SPI St. Gallen, said the data up to 2025 did not indicate a trend of renewed affiliation with the Church among secularized young people or adults. But the figures did show that adult baptisms now account for a higher proportion of total baptisms, rising from just 1% in 2015 to 2.6% in 2025.
Bünker said that while the rise in adult baptisms was modest, the phenomenon’s visibility had increased significantly in recent years. He argued that their visibility was magnified by media interest and a tendency among newly baptized adult Catholics to share their experiences online.
“Whereas adult baptisms were previously communicated to the outside world rather cautiously, today they are presented much more confidently,” he wrote Sept. 18.
“Both Church officials and the newly baptized themselves are driving this communication. Their self-presentation on social media is an important aspect of this communication and turns what is statistically a small phenomenon into a comparatively high-profile one, especially as secular media are also increasingly reporting on adult baptisms.”
Bünker said the magnifying effect was enhanced by a tendency among dioceses to centralize the preparation of catechumens, bringing them together in larger groups.
“An adult baptism ceremony involving many candidates is more likely to attract public and journalistic attention and visibility than smaller, more modest decentralized baptism ceremonies,” he noted.
The overall number of baptisms in Switzerland decreased in 2025 for the third consecutive year, down to 12,809 from 13,548 in 2024.
Bünker said the declining total number of baptisms was influenced by a range of factors including a fall in the overall number of births in Switzerland, a decrease in the number of Catholics, and a drop in Catholic marriages.
He also noted that a growing proportion of Swiss Catholics were choosing not to have their children baptized.
In 2015, Catholic baptisms amounted to 62.6% of the estimated number of births among the Catholic population in Switzerland. By 2024, this figure had fallen to 57.9%.
The new statistics confirmed that the number of Swiss Catholics formally leaving the Church is continuing to decline.
The number of Church “exits” fell to 27,878 in 2025, down from 36,782 in 2024 and 67,497 in 2023.
The spike in departures in 2023 has been linked to the publication in September that year of an independent pilot study on abuse in the Catholic Church in Switzerland. The pilot study coincided with the airing of allegations against several members of the Swiss bishops’ conference, prompting the Vatican to order a preliminary investigation.
Formally leaving the Church in Switzerland generally requires the submission of a written declaration of withdrawal to the local Church authority. But the exact procedure depends on the canton in which the person lives.
In many of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, religious communities must have a democratic organization if they want to be recognized under public law and collect church taxes. So in addition to the normal diocesan structure, the Catholic Church in Switzerland also has democratically organized regional bodies known as cantonal churches, which are recognized as corporations under public law.
The declaration of withdrawal marks the end of a Catholic’s membership in the local public-law corporation and, if applicable, the requirement to pay Church taxes. It does not necessarily mean that the Church no longer sees the person as a member of the broader religious community.
Responding to the new statistics, Bishop Beat Grögli of St. Gallen said that faith could no longer be taken for granted, but needed to be explained and justified.
“Mature faith speaks above all through personal witness. The testimonies of young people and adults challenge us; they prompt us to question our practices and provide impetus for change,” said Grögli, the Swiss bishops’ representative for pastoral issues.
“The Church is becoming more missionary and respectful, more self-confident and more synodal, and more engaged in dialogue.”
The day after Bünker published his analysis, Bishop Joseph Maria Bonnemain of Chur presided at a baptism and confirmation ceremony involving five young adults in the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Winterthur.