The Dominican friars: a numerical overview
August 08, 2026
The Church today commemorates the memorial of St. Dominic (1170-1221), founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).
According to the online edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the institute had 5,337 friars, 4,037 of them priests, in 2024. Approved in 1216, the order has 514 religious houses.
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) stated that membership soared to around 7,000 by the mid-1200s and increased to 12,000 in 1337, 14,000 in the 1570s, and more than 20,000 in the 1720s. “It does not seem probable that the number of Preachers alone ever exceeded 25,000,” the encyclopedia stated.
According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia (scroll down)
Membership was approximately 13,000 in 1256, and was probably above 21,000 in 1347 at the beginning of the Black Death, which greatly reduced the order’s numbers ... From 1789 to 1850, a series of calamities disrupted the order’s government; destroyed or weakened its priories, monasteries, and provinces; crippled its foreign missions; scattered its members; and brought it close to extinction.
Membership stood at 8,000 in 1950, rose to 10,150 in 1963, and then declined to 9,399 (1971), 7,164 (1981), 6,899 (1990), 6,371 (2000), 5,906 (2010), and 5,647 (2020).
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