DW quotes data published on Friday by the German Bishops’ Conference and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) that states that Germany’s Catholic Church lost 216,078 members and Protestant churches lost some 220,000 in 2018.
In total, around 23 million German citizens are still members of the Catholic Church and 21.14 million are members of the Protestant churches. The two groups account for 53.2% of the country’s total population of over 83 million.
Hans Langendörfer, secretary of the German Bishops’ Conference, described Friday’s figures as a “worrying” statistic.
Church membership can officially be renounced by making a declaration in person at a local government agency, sometimes a district court. There is no need to provide any reason for wanting to leave.
Unless they renounce their membership with an official declaration, members of the Catholic and Protestant churches pay up to 9% of their taxable income as church tax, generating billions of euros in income for both organizations. The money is automatically deducted, just like payroll taxes or social insurance.
Via DW
How will the package make labour mobility fairer for people moving across EU borders?
Documents proving social security and health insurance as well as qualification will be available...
The US-Canada trade war is pushing Ottawa closer to the European Union. For European companies, that shift is already creating opportunities in defence, aerospace and industrial technolo...
Morning Briefing
MEP request for Fenech perjury investigation referred to police
The Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that a request by Nationalist MEP David Casa for an inv...
Morning Briefing
Foreign Firms Cut Jobs as Maltese Businesses Expand
Foreign-controlled companies in Malta reduced their workforce in 2024 while locally controlled businesses reco...
The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious package of tax reforms aimed at simplifying tax rules across the European Union, reducing compliance burdens for businesses and strength...
The European Union's new Migration and Asylum Pact enters into force on 12 June, ushering in the most significant reform of the bloc's migration framework in years and placing renewed em...
The public prosecutor's office in Reggio Calabria has opened an investigation into a case involving the banking services company Revolut, founded in London, which is now reportedly being...
Wizz Air sees few if any opportunities from airBaltic's bankruptcy and expects a wider shakeout of other European airlines that were unable to hedge against high fuel prices, the budget...
Artificial intelligence has already transformed industries such as finance and education, but one of its most important tests may come in medicine: discovering new drugs.
Pharmaceutic...
Malta’s new pay transparency regulations, which came into effect on the 5th of June, aim to strengthen fairness and equality in the workplace, but employers are warning that the rushed i...
Malta Public Transport is encouraging passengers attending Una Notte Con Le Stelle at The Granaries, Floriana, on Saturday 5 September to make use of the regular night bus services opera...
The first edition of HEKATECH.HEALTH 2026, to be held in Malta on November 26, will focus on how health systems can reconcile two increasingly urgent demands: expanding access to new med...
Fears of renewed escalation gripped the Middle East on Wednesday after the United States and Iran exchanged their biggest barrage since July, with Washington striking Iran's southern co...
President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he had called off planned U.S. strikes on Iran, saying renewed negotiations had raised hopes of easing the conflict and reopening ship...
At least 32 people have been killed and more than 700 injured after two powerful earthquakes — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 — struck central Venezuela seconds apart, causing widespread destruct...
Thousands of Cuban security personnel have begun leaving Caracas after nearly two decades in Venezuela, as Washington ramps up efforts to dismantle the long standing alliance between the...
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he expected Moscow to escalate the war in "in the coming weeks", following Russian strikes that hit a Warsaw-bound train in Ukraine, just two kil...
The departure from Moldova of a plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Norway was delayed when authorities closed the country's airspace over a drone alert, a Moldov...
