Dean Jones | Heaven’s Landlords
Business
Finance
November 3, 2026
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Ask who owns the most land on earth and most people reach for a king, a billionaire or a mining giant. Ask which institution owns the most land in the name of God and the answer is less glamorous, less documented and far larger than most Jamaicans would guess.
The Roman Catholic Church is estimated to hold about 177 million acres worldwide. That is roughly 71.6 million hectares, an estate larger than metropolitan France and about 65 times the size of Jamaica.
No other church comes close. Combine the next seven churches with published land totals and they hold about two million hectares between them, less than three per cent of the Catholic figure.
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