The number of people leaving the church in North Rhine-Westphalia remains high. In the second quarter of this year, 53,019 people left the Catholic and Protestant Church, as the Ministry of Justice in Düsseldorf announced in response to a small request from the AfD. In the same period last year, i.e. the second quarter of 2021, there were 42,125 people leaving. In the first quarter of this year there were 58,216.

Last year, a total of 155,322 people left the church in North Rhine-Westphalia. That was more than ever before in the statistics from the Ministry of Justice in Düsseldorf, which go back to 2011. The previous high there was 120,188 resignations in 2019. The following year, 2020, there were 89,694, which is generally explained by the corona pandemic. For example, it took some time for the district courts to expand the options for online resignations.