St. Josef Church, Saarland, Germany - Catholic Stock Photo

Saarland is located in western Germany covering an area of 2,570 km2 (990 sq mi) and a population of 995,600 (2015), the smallest German state in both area and population apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg.

Saarland is the most religious state in Germany. The adherents of the Catholic Church comprise 57.6% of the population, organized in the two dioceses of Trier (comprising the formerly Prussian part of Saarland) and Speyer (for the smaller eastern formerly Palatine part). 17.7% of the Saarlandic population adhere to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), organized in the two Landeskirchen named Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and Evangelical Church of the Palatinate, both following the same former territorial partition. 24.6% are not affiliated with one of these churches.

Saarland has the highest concentration of Roman Catholics of any German state, and is the only state in which Catholics form an absolute majority (over 50%).