On Monday, April 27, 2026, Pope Leo XIV received Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally in an audience. As the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, she represents between 85 and 100 million believers worldwide. The Pontiff advocated for an evangelization-oriented ecumenism. Here, we offer an overview of the current state of Anglicanism, one of the oldest denominations born during the Reformation.
Historical roots and global expansion
Born from the split with Rome decreed by England's King Henry VIII in 1534, the Church of England maintains the concept of apostolic succession, where bishops are considered spiritual descendants of the apostles.
At the same time, it integrates Reformation principles, particularly the centrality of the Scriptures. Historically, it maintains complex relationships with other Protestant communities and hasn't developed extensively in continental Europe. The Church of England — historically the “mother Church” of the Anglican Communion — is linked to the British monarchy, with the king acting as its supreme governor. However, the monarchy has no influence elsewhere in the Communion.
Anglicanism expanded significantly starting in the 17th century. It spread across the vast colonial empire where, as the saying goes, "the sun never sets." The Church of England spread its form of Christianity, although the local communities eventually became independent of the Church of England as such.
Today, 40 autonomous provinces and local churches (of which the Church of England is one) spread across 165 countries make up the Anglican Communion. This ecclesial structure unites all Anglicans.
The Archbishop of Canterbury serves as its spiritual head but holds no canonical authority over these provinces. Some provinces cover several countries, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States (see map) or the Diocese in Europe, which stretches across a large part of the continent all the way to Russia.
Fractured unity
It is important to understand that the Archbishop of Canterbury is not an “Anglican pope,” and Anglicans do not recognize any institutional authority with absolute authority over theological or ecclesial matters. There are reference points — such as Sacred Scripture, tradition, the Church Fathers, the Thirty-nine Articles, and the Book of Common Prayer — but they are left to wide interpretation and varied application.
As a result, some groups in the Anglican Communion have introduced theological and pastoral innovations. One of the most notable and controversial is the ordination of women to the diaconate, the priesthood, or the episcopacy (not all Anglican communities or provinces admit women to all three degrees of ministry). The recent election of Sarah Mullally as the Archbishop of Canterbury is thus divisive in some communities. The varied degree of acceptance of same-sex relationships is also divisive.
This has led to the formation of parallel Anglican structures in some parts of the world, such as ACNA (the Anglican Church in North America), GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), and GSFA (Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches), which reject these innovations. This means that there are self-identifying Anglican communities that are not fully in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury — more so now that that position is held by a woman.
Indeed, on March 5 in Abuja, Nigeria, GAFCON (which claims to represent more than 85% of the world’s active Anglicans) announced the creation of a Global Anglican Council. This move defied London's authority and raised the risk of a schism within the Communion.
All of this makes it somewhat complicated to give a clear and exact picture of the number and distribution of Anglicans worldwide.
A geographic shift toward Africa
Although there's no official count of Anglicans currently in the world, 85 million is a frequently cited estimate. The Religion Times, an independent Anglican newspaper, however, put the number at 100 million in 2025, highlighting Anglicanism's growth in Africa.
In Europe, and particularly in the United Kingdom, Anglicanism has experienced a real decline in recent years. While people often cite 24 million baptized members, official 2022 Church of England statistics estimate roughly 984,000 weekly attendees in England. This represents 1.5% of the population, which falls below the number of practicing Catholics (between 1.1 and 1.2 million faithful in 2018, according to the Catholic Church in England and Wales).
A 2024 British Social Attitudes survey found that 11% of the UK population identifies as Anglican, totaling about 7 million believers.
The most Anglican country in the world (by percentage) is the Solomon Islands, a former British colony in the Pacific where a third of the population is Anglican. It's followed by Uganda (32%), the Caribbean island of Barbados (28%), the UK, and then Nigeria, Australia, and Kenya (10%).
The heart of the Anglican Communion now lies in Africa's former colonies. However, statistics in this region are imprecise due to frequent confusion between Anglicans and other Protestants in national surveys.
African growth and internal tensions
Nigeria recently surpassed the UK as the country with the highest absolute number of Anglicans. It counts between 20 and 25 million believers depending on the survey, and its population is steadily growing.
The rest of the Anglican population is mainly concentrated in the African Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. Uganda has between 13 and 16 million Anglicans, Kenya counts 4 to 5 million, and South Africa has 3 to 4 million.
Africa's major influence in the Anglican Communion today brings recurring tensions with the Church of England and the Episcopal Church. As mentioned above, this friction primarily centers on the stance toward same-sex couples and the priestly and episcopal ordination of women. These are authorized in Western countries but often rejected in Africa. This has led to significant divisions.
Another challenge comes from Anglicans crossing over to the Catholic Church. In 2009, with the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Pope Benedict XVI established personal ordinariates as a specific canonical structure to welcome and integrate Anglican groups and institutions into the Catholic Church. There are currently three: Our Lady of Walsingham in the UK, the Chair of Saint Peter in the US and Canada, and Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia and Japan. According to the Holy See, these ordinariates currently serve a group of nearly 15,000 faithful.
