The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world has shown steady growth, while the number of religious men and women continued to decrease, according to Vatican statistics.
At the end of 2019, the worldwide Catholic population exceeded 1.34 billion, which continued to be about 17.7 percent of the world’s population, said an article published March 26 in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
It marked an increase of 16 million Catholics — a 1.12 percent increase compared to 2018 while the world’s population grew by 1.08 percent…
… The total number of priests — diocesan and religious order — around the world slightly increased from 414,065 in 2018 to 414,336 in 2019.
The number of candidates for the priesthood — both diocesan seminarians and members of religious orders — showed a continued slight decline worldwide, decreasing from 115,880 at the end of 2018 to 114,058 in 2019, a change of -1.6 percent.
The number of permanent deacons reported — 48,238 — was up 1.5 percent over the previous year. The vast majority — 97 percent — of the world’s permanent deacons live in the Americas and in Europe.
The number of brothers in religious orders continued its small yet steady decline worldwide from 50,941 in 2018 to 50,295 in 2019.
The number of women in religious orders showed an ongoing downward trend with a 1.8 percent decrease, going from 641,661 women in 2018 to 630,099 in 2019.
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