Vatican statistics show decline in baptisms, clergy, religious, worldwide

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

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

By contrast, the United Nations estimated the world’s population increased by 0.83 per cent over the same period to a total of just over 8 billion people at the end of 2022, marking the first time it passed that milestone.

The Vatican agency Fides published a brief overview of the global numbers on 17 October.

The Vatican’s statistical yearbook cautioned that its numbers were based on the information it received back from its surveys and that not all jurisdictions sent 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 present situation have not been included in the survey,’ it said, adding that it estimated that number to be about an additional 5 million Catholics.

While Catholics remained about 17.7 per cent of the global population, their numbers grew in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, said the summary, which was based on numbers reported on 31 December 2022. Only Europe saw a drop, with 474,000 fewer Catholics.

While the number of Catholics is increasing, the administration of the sacrament of Baptism has decreased worldwide.

Catholics make up 64 per cent of the total population in the Americas followed by Europe and Oceania, in which 39.5 per cent and 26 per cent of the population are baptised Catholic respectively. In Africa, 19.7 per cent of the population is Catholic, and in Asia, 3.3 per cent of the population is Catholic.

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

The Catholic Church had 5,353 bishops at the end of 2022, a slight increase of 13 bishops at the end of 2021. The majority of them are serving in the Americas and Europe.

The total number of diocesan and religious order priests decreased slightly by 142 men to a total of 407,730, the Vatican office said. The bulk of the decrease was in Europe, with 2,745 fewer priests, which could not be offset even by the 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 Catholics per priest increased slightly to 3,408 Catholics per priest.

The number of religious brothers decreased in 2022 from 49,774 to 49,414, with 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 per cent from 608,958 at the end of 2021.

The number of permanent deacons—50,159—saw a 1.99 per cent increase over the previous year, with the most growth in Europe.

The number of seminarians decreased globally by 1.28 per cent to 108,481 from 109,895 at the end of 2021, with the only significant growth in Africa.

The number of Catholic weddings celebrated around the world in 2022 was up from more than 1.8 million in 2021 to 1.97 million in 2022; of those, only 9.6 per cent involved a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic.

The yearbook for 1991 reported more than 3.8 million Catholic weddings, with 8.9 per cent of them involving a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic.

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