The global Catholic population rose by 1.3% over the course of 2021 to around 1.378 billion, the official Vatican News portal reported on Sunday on the basis of the church's statistical yearbook.
By contrast, the number of clerics declined by 0.39% to 462,388.
While the number of Catholics in Africa rose by more than 3%, the number remained roughly constant in Europe. The rise in the Americas and Asia came in at around 1%.
The number of Catholics in Germany fell by 2.47% amid continuing scandals over sexual abuse perpetrated by priests. Some 360,000 registered Catholics left the church, more than ever before.
According to the yearbook – the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae – Catholics made up 17.67% of the global population in 2020.
The church continues to grow in Africa. In 2020 and 2021, more than 19% of the world's Catholics lived in Africa, almost as many as in Europe. The Americas were home to 48% of the global Catholic population in those years.
Brazil, with its 180 million Catholics, was the largest Catholic country.
