Catholic Statistics

2005-2022

Introduction

» Data is taken from the Annuario Pontificio. » View the Data Summary.

Key Points

Over the period 2005 to 2014, the Catholic Population increased from 1.115 Billion to 1.272 Billion (from 17.3% to 17.8% of the world population). By 2022, it had increased further to 1.39 Billion.
Africa also saw the largest growth of the Catholic population in the period 2005-2014 by percentage terms (41%).
Priesthood Numbers: In Africa and Asia there were increases of 32.6 per cent and 27.1 per cent respectively, whereas in Europe the number declined by 8 per cent, and in Oceania by 1.7 per cent.

Hover over each point/bar or slice for the corresponding value for each year shown.

Note:
1. In 1910, nearly two-thirds of all Catholics were to be found in Europe.
Source: http://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/

Note:
1. The European Catholic population (not shown) increased by 2% over the period 2005 to 2014.
2. In 2022, the number of Catholics in Africa was 273 million (an increase of 8 million from the previous year) and in Europe the number was 286 million.

Note:
1. The number of Bishops increased from 4,841 to 5,353 over the period 2005 to 2022.
2. 97.3% of Permanent Deacons are based in either the Americas or Europe.
3. In the 2-year period 2021-2022, the number of seminarians in Europe decreased by 6%.
4. Of the 108,481 seminarians worldwide, in 2022, Africa was the continent that showed the highest number of seminarians, with 34,541 men. It was followed by Asia with 31,767, the Americas with 27,738, Europe with 14,461, and Oceania with 974.

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The Surveys

Latest Survey News

Catholic Statistics (2005-2022) Posted 23 Apr 2024

American Catholic Statistics (1965-2021) Updated 30 Oct 2022