The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world increased in 2022, while the number of seminarians, priests, men and women in religious orders and baptisms decreased, according to Vatican statistics.

At the end of 2022, the number of Catholics in the world reached 1.389 billion, up 0.79% from 1.378 billion Catholics at the end of 2021, according to the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics.

In contrast, the United Nations estimated that the world’s population grew by 0.83 percent over the same period, to a total of just over 8 billion people at the end of 2022, marking the first time it has surpassed that milestone.

The Vatican agency, Fides, published on October 17 a brief presentation of the global figures.

The Vatican’s statistical yearbook cautions that its numbers are based on information received from its surveys and that not all jurisdictions submitted information. Mainland China, for example, had missing data throughout the yearbook. The number of Catholics “does not include those in countries that, because of their current situation, were not included in the survey,” he said, adding that he estimated the number at about 5 million additional Catholics.

While Catholics remained about 17.7 percent of the global population, their numbers increased in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, the summary said, which is based on figures reported as of Dec. 31, 2022. Only Europe saw a decrease. , with 474,000 fewer Catholics. .

Of the total population, the Catholic population is:

• 64 percent in America
• 39.5% in Europe
• 26 percent in Oceania
• 19.7% in Africa
• 3.3% in Asia

While the number of Catholics is increasing, the administration of the sacrament of baptism has declined worldwide. It decreased from 17,932,891 baptisms administered in 1998 to 13,327,037 in 2022, according to the synthesis report of Fides. A peak was reported during the Holy Year 2000 when 18,408,076 baptisms were administered worldwide.

The total number of priests in diocesan and religious orders fell slightly by 142 men to a total of 407,730, the Vatican office said. Most of the decrease was in Europe with 2,745 fewer priests, which could not even be offset by increases in Africa and Asia. However, while the number of diocesan priests decreased globally, the number of religious order priests increased by 297 men.

The number of religious brothers decreased in 2022 from 49,774 to 49,414, the only places of growth being in Asia and the Americas.

The total number of religious women, it said, was 599,228 at the end of 2022 – a decrease of 9,730 women or 1.59 percent from 608,958 at the end of 2021.

The number of permanent deacons – 50,159 – registered an increase of 1.99% compared to the previous year, with the highest increase in Europe.

The number of seminarians fell globally by 1.28% to 108,481 from 109,895 at the end of 2021, the only significant increase in Africa.

The number of Catholic weddings celebrated worldwide in 2022 increased from over 1.8 million in 2021 to 1.97 million in 2022; of these, only 9.6% involved a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic.

The yearbook for 1991 reported over 3.8 million Catholic weddings, 8.9% of which involved a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic.

In 2022, the yearbook says, 8.68 million people received their First Communion, up from 8.5 million the previous year, and 7.4 million people were confirmed, up from 7.3 million people in 2021.