Statistical Yearbooks of the Holy See: increase in the number of baptized and decrease in the number of priestsUpdated statistical data on the Catholic Church in the WorldHow many Catholics are there in the world?The world population at the beginning of 2023 was estimated to be slightly more than 7.8 billion people, with a growth of 53 million people over the previous year. The global increase is confirmed in all continents except Europe.
On the same date, the number of Catholics was 1.39 billion people, with a total increase of more than 13 million Catholics over the previous year. Again, the increase in Catholics affects four of the five continents, with the number of Catholics in the old continent dropping by half a million.
Number of priests, bishops and missionaries
The number of Catholics per priest has worsened slightly and each priest must pastor an average of 3,408 souls, 35 more than the previous year. The total number of priests in the world has decreased and remained at 407,730, although Europe has lost no less than 2,745.
The number of diocesan priests is 279,171, while the number of religious is 128,559. On the other hand, the number of permanent deacons in the world has increased by almost 1,000 and now exceeds 50,000.
In the last year analyzed, the total number of ecclesiastical circumscriptions (dioceses and similar) was 3,036 and they are pastored by 5,353 bishops (2,682 are diocesan priests and 2,671 are religious).
According to the latest figures, there are 126,549 mission stations in the world, 7,500 fewer than a year ago. 2,534 have a resident priest, although 707 fewer than a year ago. As can be seen, the number of available missions and priests is suffering a significant attrition.
Religious data
The number of non-priestly male religious is 49,414, which has remained stable due to the increase in vocations in Asia.
This year's statistics also confirm the overall downward trend in the number of women religious, who are losing almost 10,000 members, despite the more than 1,300 new Asian vocations. There are now almost 600,000 women religious in total.
The number of Lay Missionaries in the world exceeds 410,000, with a global increase of more than 2,800 members.
Catechists and seminarians
Finally, the number of catechists in the world has decreased by a total of almost 28,000, to about 2,850,000.
The number of major seminarians currently stands at just over 108,000, although diocesan seminarians decreased by 1,645, while religious seminarians increased by 231. Overall, diocesan minor seminarians have decreased to 72,462 (-339), while religious seminarians have decreased to 22,699 (-214).
Educational centers
In the field of education, the Church administers 74,000 nursery schools in the world, attended by 7,600,000 students; 102,000 primary schools with 35,700,000 students; and 50,800 secondary schools with 20,500,000 students.
In addition, it serves 2,460,993 high school students and 3,925,393 university students.
Health, charitable and welfare institutions
The charitable health care institutions administered in the world by the Church comprise: 102,409, including 5,420 hospitals, 14,205 dispensaries, distributed as follows:
- Africa: 1,604 hospitals and 5,172 clinics.
- America: 1,392 hospitals and 3,433 clinics.
- 525 leprosy centers, 260 in Asia and 205 in
- 15,476 homes for the elderly, chronically ill and disabled. 8,336 in Europe.
- 8,874 orphanages, mostly in Asia (3,013) and Europe (2,363);
- 10,589 nursery schools;
- 10,500 marriage clinics, mostly in Europe (5,249) and America (2,561);
- 3,141 education or social reeducation centers, the vast majority in the Americas (1,391)
- 33,677 other institutions located mainly in the Americas (13,582) and Europe (15,384).
