Protestants and Evangelicals are two of the most numerous religious associations in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 after the Roman Catholic majority. In Mexico, there are many denominations from virtually all doctrinal backgrounds, the largest are: Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostals and a group of unaffiliated non-denominational charismatic

Charismatic movement

The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...

 congregations. In the census, some of these congregations and their followers are grouped as "Neo-Charismatic", others are grouped as "Evangelicals".

The charismatic movement in Mexico has been growing in the last few years, particularly in the Southern state of Chiapas, where the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico is the strongest denomination (46% of the total Presbyterian population of Mexico).

In Mexico, Protestants and Evangelicals are commonly referred to as "Christians", even by the Catholic majority.

Denominations

A main category of the Protestant churches in Mexico are the so-called Historical denominations, which include the following churches: Presbyterian (and other Calvinistic groups), Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Congregational and Anglican (or Episcopalian). These constitute the 10% of the Protestant/Evangelical category. After these branches, we have the "Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal" segment, which constitutes about 22% of the non-Catholic category. With a 39% we have "Other evangelical" members, a group called "Light of the World" (based in the city of Guadalajara

Guadalajara

Guadalajara may refer to:In Mexico:*Guadalajara, Jalisco, the capital of the state of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico**Guadalajara Metropolitan Area*University of Guadalajara, a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco...

) makes 1%, and finally the "Non-Evangelical Biblical" categorization makes up for the remaining 28% of this figure.

Growth and social interaction

Protestants/Evangelicals have had a respectful and often peaceful relationship with their overwheming Catholic atmosphere. Some exceptions of intolerance are sadly common in indigenous communities in the State of Mexico and the southern state of Chiapas (the state with the greatest percentage of Protestants nationwide). Despite of their long-time status of minority, Mexican Protestants interact normally with the rest of Mexico.

Because of historical reasons (the laic character of Mexico which in theory does not intend to favor any religion) and contrary to many countries, Mexican Protestants do not have many institutions such as day care centers, schools, universities, labor unions, political parties and hospitals. This forces Evangelicals to interact with the rest of society using the same services and attending to the same educational institutions. With the exception of Bible-based moral standards, Mexican Protestants are not alienated from the dominant culture around them and are used to be well acquainted with non-Protestant people. They often enjoy popular soccer games, TV shows and usually celebrate holidays as everyone else.

Regardless of regional variations, Protestants, often known simply as "Christians" in Mexico are becoming more relevant to the Catholic majority as many of these churches continue to grow greatly because many born-again Christians were once Catholics and converted later in life to this form of Christianity. Subsequently, they tend to share their new spiritual experiences to their Catholic relatives and neighbors, inciting curiosity because their life-changing testimony often ushers a new stage in their lives (frequently asceticism) which changes their worldview and their personal behavior. Christians often invite people to their churches, which sometimes leads to further spiritual encounter and revivals. This is when more people become born-agin Christians.

Regions and identity shift

The fact that more and more Mexicans no longer describe or define themselves as Catholic is a very significant issue. This tells us about a society that tends to diversify into other paths regarding religious adherence. Nevertheless, the proportion or magnitude of this shift varies greatly and it is not the same throughout the country.

As a generalized interpretation, we could say that Protestants have grown to be a very relevant minority in Southern Mexico and to a lesser though significant percentage in Northern Mexico, especially in border states. Places where Protestantism has not become such a big minority are the West and the central parts (known as the Bajío), which is known as a very Catholic region.
The following chart shows us the variations of religious affiliation of the Mexican population by state and doctrine to which inhabitants older than 5 adhere:

State	Population	% Catholic	% Evang./Protestant	% Non-Eveng Biblical	% Atheist	% Other	% Unspecified
Aguascalientes Aguascalientes Aguascalientes is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 11 municipalities and its capital city is Aguascalientes....	822,037	96.07	1.79	0.66	0.10	0.89	0.49
Baja California Baja California Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...	2,181,179	82.43	7.79	2.59	0.30	5.89	1.00
Baja California Sur Baja California Sur Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...	372,466	89.61	3.68	2.05	0.19	3.33	1.14
Campeche Campeche Campeche is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in Southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Yucatán to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west...	609,648	75.04	11.94	4.27	0.17	8.09	0.49
Coahuila Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...	2,031,773	87.23	6.79	1.55	0.11	3.70	0.62
Colima Colima Colima is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima....	479,149	92.96	3.10	1.45	0.10	1.86	0.53
Chiapas Chiapas Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...	3,393,573	64.46	14.50	8.09	0.06	2.95	0.57
Chihuahua	2,683,956	85.40	6.52	1.94	0.15	5.38	0.61
Distrito Federal	7,787,688	90.57	3.61	1.37	1.02	2.95	0.48
Durango Durango Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...	1,266,521	90.72	3.79	1.91	0.06	2.95	0.57
Guanajuato Guanajuato Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....	4,064,431	96.07	1.39	0.77	0.18	.93	0.66
Guerrero Guerrero Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....	2,656,187	89.42	4.58	2.04	0.40	3.08	0.48
Hidalgo	1,974,004	90.63	5.41	1.38	0.40	1.69	0.49
Jalisco Jalisco Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...	5,567,957	95.39	2.06	0.89	0.13	1.04	0.49
Michoacán Michoacán Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...	3,487,151	95.12	1.70	1.02	0.16	1.43	0.57
Morelos Morelos Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....	1,373,243	83.22	7.96	3.08	0.63	4.28	0.83
Nayarit Nayarit Nayarit officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its capital city is Tepic.It is located in Western Mexico...	809,050	92.85	2.67	1.47	0.13	2.54	0.34
Nuevo León Nuevo León Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...	3,405,823	88.19	6.28	1.96	0.14	2.96	0.47
Oaxaca Oaxaca Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...	3,006,497	85.15	7.73	2.43	0.25	3.93	0.51
Puebla Puebla Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....	4,440,642	91.54	4.33	1.69	0.42	1.38	0.64
Querétaro Querétaro Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....	1,230,278	95.37	1.89	0.96	0.20	0.97	0.61
Quintana Roo Quintana Roo Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....	762,866	71.76	12.52	4.74	0.42	9.81	0.75
San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....	2,011,828	91.53	4.95	1.01	0.17	1.82	0.52
Sinaloa Sinaloa Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....	2,239,357	87.67	2.86	2.12	0.12	6.72	0.51
Sonora Sonora Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....	1,945,692	88.62	4.68	1.86	0.10	4.11	0.63
Tabasco Tabasco Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....	1,660,813	72.26	13.01	5.34	0.15	8.86	0.38
Tamaulipas Tamaulipas Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...	2,428,828	83.14	8.78	2.52	0.21	4.71	0.64
Tlaxcala Tlaxcala Tlaxcala officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala is one of the 31 states which along with the Federal District comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and its capital city is Tlaxcala....	844,878	93.20	3.05	1.39	0.55	0.98	0.83
Veracruz Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...	6,121,833	82.90	6.88	3.67	0.21	5.88	0.46
Yucatán Yucatán Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....	1,476,223	84.73	8.20	2.97	0.15	3.42	0.53
Zacatecas Zacatecas Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....	1,184,735	95.05	2.12	0.89	0.07	1.32	0.55
State of México	11,611,426	91.26	3.78	1.58	0.87	1.94	0.57