The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world rose in 2023, while the number of seminarians, priests, men and women in religious orders, and baptisms all declined, according to Vatican statistics.
However, the Vatican’s Statistical Yearbook of the Church said, 9.1 million people received their first Communion in 2023, up from 8.68 million people the previous year, and almost 7.7 million people were confirmed, up from 7.4 million people in 2022.
At the end of 2023, the number of Catholics in the world reached 1.405 billion, up 1.15 per cent from 1.389 billion Catholics at the end of 2022, according to the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics, which publishes the yearbook.
The Vatican published its statistical yearbook offering data “on the life and activity of the church in the world in 2023” at the end of March.
Catholics represented about 17.8 per cent of the global population at the end of 2023, it said.
The highest proportion is in the Americas with 64.2 per cent of its population being baptised Catholic. Europe follows with 39.6 per cent and Oceania with 25.9 per cent.
In Africa, 19.8 per cent of the population is Catholic and the lowest proportion of Catholics by continent is Asia with 3.3 per cent.
While the number of Catholics is increasing, the administration of the sacrament of baptism has continued to decrease worldwide, according to the yearbook.