The number of Catholics worldwide has risen to nearly 1.36 billion

The data has been published from the Central Church Statistics Office for the year 2020

Vatican City (CAP) – The number of Catholics worldwide has risen to nearly 1.36 billion. This is the result of the data of the Central Office of Church Statistics for 2020, provided by the Vatican Information Agency Fides on the occasion of the upcoming World Mission Sunday. Compared to 2019, that means an increase of 15.2 million people, it was said on Saturday. The proportion of Catholics in the world population decreased slightly to 17.73 percent (-0.01 percent).

With the exception of Oceania (-9000), the Catholic Church recorded increases on all continents. Above all, America (+6.46 million) and Africa (+5.29 million) had a significant increase. In Asia, the number of Catholics increased by 2.73 million, and in Europe by 734,000.

The number of priests, both diocese and friars, decreased by 4,117 to a total of 410,219. While Africa (+1,004) and Asia (+778) again recorded increases, the value in Europe (-4,374) decreased again, followed by America (-1,421) and Oceania (-104). However, with 163,954, Europe still has the largest number of priests in the world. The number of bishops worldwide decreased by one to 5,363.

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