Religion in Nauru

The traditional beliefs of Nauru dominated the island until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries , when Christian missionaries began to penetrate the island. After that, Christianity is the predominant religion on the island. The population of Nauru professing traditional beliefs is 9.5% and is constantly declining.

Before the Europeans arrived in Nauru, the inhabitants of this island adhered to animism . In 1888, the first Catholic and Protestant missionaries from Germany arrived in Nauru.

In 1897, the Holy See formed the Apostolic Vicariate of the Gilbert Islands , which extended its jurisdiction to Nauru. In 1966, the Apostolic Vicariate of the Gilbert Islands was transformed into the Diocese of Tarawa, which in 1978 was renamed the Diocese of Tarawa, Nauru and Funafuti. In 1982, the diocese of Tarawa, Nauru and Funafuti was divided into the mission of Sui iuris Funafuti and the diocese of Tarawa and Nauru . Christianity professes the vast majority of the population of Nauru. Of these, according to the 2002 census , approximately two-thirds are Protestants , and the rest are Catholics ^[2] . According to the 2011 census, the Nauru Congregational Church is the largest of all denominations on the island. Her parishioners are 35.71% of the population of Nauru.

Nurians of Chinese descent profess Confucianism and Buddhism . Their total number is about 4% of the citizens of Nauru. The number of Hindus and Muslims and Jews is approximately 0.1% of the total population of the island ^[3] .