Vatican yearbook shows slight rise in Catholic population, drop in seminarians
March 06, 2019
There are more than 1.3 billion baptized Catholics in the world, making up 17.7% of the global population, according to the latest Vatican statistics.
The Annuariam Statisticum Ecclesiae, a yearbook released in Rome on March 6, showed the number of Catholics growing more rapidly than the overall population in Africa and Asia. In the Americas the Catholic population is growing, although not as quickly as the overall figure. In Europe the number of Catholics remained essentially unchanged from the previous year.
The yearbook showed a decline in the number of candidates for the priesthood worldwide. Again the figures for Africa and Asia were more promising, while in the Americas and especially in Europe the dec.
The figures in the Annuarium reflect reports from 2017, the last year for which full statistics are available.
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