The number of Catholics has increased all over the world – mostly in Africa

17.7% of the world’s population is Catholic. In Europe, the share is approximately 37 percent. The numbers here have remained virtually unchanged.

The number of Catholics has increased all over the world. As reported on Saturday by the Vatican news portal, according to Cathepress, there were about 1.378 billion Catholics in 2021. This corresponds to an increase of 1.3 percent compared to the previous year. The portal refers to figures from the just-published Vatican Statistical Yearbook. Accordingly, the number of Catholics in Africa in particular increased by more than three percent, in Asia and America by a slight increase of about one percent.

In Europe, the numbers have remained virtually unchanged. The proportion of Catholics among the world’s population is approximately 17.7%. In Europe, they make up 39.6 percent of the population. Almost half (48 percent) of all Catholics in the world live in America – 75 percent in South America and 27 percent in Brazil alone. Brazil remains the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world: 180 million Brazilian Catholics.

According to the Vatican, the number of clergy at the end of 2021 was 462,388 people worldwide. That was a decrease of about 0.4 percent compared to the previous year. The number of priests (407,872) decreased slightly, while the decrease in the number of religious priests was disproportionate. While the number of priests is decreasing in Europe and America, in Africa and Asia they are increasing significantly. However, at the end of 2021, 39.3 percent of all priests were living in Europe.

(APA)