Global Catholic population surpasses 1.4 billion souls

The number of Catholics around the world has tipped over the 1.4 billion mark, according to the latest research from the Vatican.

The Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics has released the 2025 Pontifical Yearbook providing details about the number of Catholics, consecrated religious, priests, bishops and the like throughout the world.

The global Catholic population increased by 1.15 per cent between 2022 and 2023, rising from approximately 1.39 billion to 1.406 billion, according to the Pontifical Yearbook 2025, which was compiled by the Central Office of Church Statistics, a department of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

The percentage increase was very similar to that of the previous biennium, reports Vatican News.

According to the yearbook, Africa includes 20 per cent of the Catholics of the entire planet and is characterised by a highly dynamic spread of the Catholic Church.

The number of Catholics in the continent increased from 272 million in 2022 to 281 million in 2023, with a relative variation of +3.31 per cent. The Democratic Republic of Congo confirms its first-place position for the number of baptised Catholics, with almost 55 million, followed by Nigeria with 35 million; Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya also register significant figures.

The Americas, with a growth of 0.9 per cent over the biennium, consolidate their position as the continents to which 47.8 per cent of the world’s Catholics belong. Of these, 27.4 per cent reside in South America (where Brazil, with 182 million, represents 13 per cent of the world total and continues to be the country with the highest concentration of Catholics throughout the globe).

In North America are located 6.6 per cent, with the remaining 13.8 per cent in Central America. When the number of Catholics is compared to the total population, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay stand out, with a Catholic incidence exceeding 90 per cent of the population.

The Asian continent records a growth in Catholic numbers of 0.6 per cent over the biennium, and its ratio in 2023 is around 11 per cent of the global Catholic population. In 2023, 76.7 per cent of Southeast Asian Catholics were concentrated in the Philippines, with 93 million; and in India, with 23 million.

Europe, while hosting 20.4 per cent of the world Catholic community, confirms itself as the least dynamic area, with an increase in the number of Catholics over the biennium of just 0.2 per cent. This variation, though, in the face of an almost stagnant demographic dynamic, translates into a slight improvement in territorial presence, notes Vatican News, reaching nearly 39.6 per cent in 2023.

Italy, Poland and Spain register a Catholic incidence exceeding 90 per cent of the resident population.

The Catholics of Oceania numbered just over 11 million in 2023, an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to 2022.

The data reported in the Pontifical Yearbook offers information regarding the life of the Catholic Church worldwide for 2024.

The yearbook also contains the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, which offers a snapshot of the main quantitative phenomena concerning the pastoral activity of the Catholic Church worldwide, including statistical insights for the biennium 2022–2023. More details can be read here.

Photo: This 07 December 1972 NASA file image shows the famous view of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew (Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. Schmidt) as they traveled toward the moon. The view extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. (Photo by NASA/NASA/AFP via Getty Images.)

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