The number of Catholics has grown at a faster rate than the global population over the past 25 years, according to statistics released by a Vatican news agency ahead of the Jubilee Year in 2025.

As of 2022, the Catholic population has reached 1.39 billion, an increase of 36.47% from 1.02 billion in 1998. This growth exceeded the 33.87% increase in the global population during the same period, rising to 7 .84 billion in 2022 from 5.196 billion in 2022.

Despite the increase in the Catholic population, the number of baptisms has steadily decreased.

Baptisms fell to 13.33 million in 2022 from 17.93 million in 1998. The highest number of baptisms was recorded in 2000, a regular jubilee year when the figure peaked at 18.41 million.

Meanwhile, the total number of priests worldwide increased to 407,730 in 2022 from 404,628 in 1998. Diocesan priests increased to 279,171 in 2022, while the number of priests in religious orders decreased to 128,559.

The number of women religious saw a steep decline, falling to 559,228 from 814,779 over the 25-year period. Religious men also declined, with their total falling to 49,414 by the end of 2022.

These figures were published on October 17 by the Fides Agency, a news service of the Pontifical Missionary Societies. The 25-year summary was published alongside an annual file that provides a snapshot of Catholic demographics.

Unlike the annual report, the summary did not break down the data by continent. It was published “to help understand the trend of variations in numerical data related to the presence and mission of the Catholic Church in the world.”

Statistics 2022

In its annual file, published just before the World Sunday of Missions, Fides Agency reported that the Catholic population increased by 13.72 million, reaching 1.39 billion in 2022.

While most continents saw an increase, Europe was an outlier, registering a decline of 474,000 Catholics. Africa and the Americas contributed the most to global growth, adding 7.27 million and 5.91 million Catholics respectively.

Asia gained 889,000 more Catholics and Oceania added 123,000, contributing to a modest 0.03% increase in the global percentage of Catholics to 17.7%.

Despite the long-term upward trend in the number of priests, the 2022 report noted an overall decrease of 142 priests from the previous year. Europe saw the biggest drop, with 2,745 fewer priests, followed by America with 164 fewer priests.

As a result, the ratio of Catholics to priests increased to 3,408 from 3,373 in 2021.

The number of major seminarians, both diocesan and religious, decreased to 108,481 in 2022 from 109,895 in 2021. Minor seminarians also decreased to 95,161.

The report included statistics of Catholic educational institutions: 74,322 kindergartens with 7.62 million students; 102,189 primary schools with 35.73 million students; and 50,851 secondary schools with 20.57 million students.

In addition, 2.46 million students were enrolled in Catholic high schools, and 3.93 million attended Church-run universities.

The Church operated 102,409 medical and charitable facilities worldwide: 5,420 hospitals; 14,205 dispensaries; 525 leper hospitals; 15,476 homes for the elderly, chronically ill and disabled; 10,589 kindergartens; 10,500 marriage counseling centers; 3,141 social rehabilitation centers; and 33,677 other institutions.