On the occasion of the 97th World Mission Day, celebrated on 22 October 2023, Fides News Agency offers some statistics chosen to give a panorama of the missionary Church all over the world. The data is taken from the latest Statistical Yearbook of the Church (updated to 31 December 2021). As of 31 December 2021, the number of Catholics worldwide was 1,375,852,000–an overall increase of 16,240,000 Catholics from the previous year. The increase affects all continents except Europe
(-244,000). As in the past, the increase is most marked in Africa (+8,312,000) and the Americas (+6,629,000), followed by Asia (+1,488,000) and Oceania (+55,000).
The percentage of Catholics worldwide, which decreased slightly from the previous year (-0.06), now stands at 17.67 %.
The number of bishops in the world decreased by 23 to a total of 5,340.
The total number of priests in the world decreased to 407,872 (-2,347). Once again, the most substantial decrease was in Europe (-3,632), followed by the Americas (-963). Instead, increases have been registered in Africa (+1,518), Asia (+719) and Oceania (+11).
Diocesan priests worldwide decreased globally by 911 to a total of 279,610, while the number of religious priests decreased by 1,436 to a total of 128,262.
Non-priestly religious decreased by 795 to 49,774. Decreases were registered in the Americas (-311), Europe (-599) and Oceania (-115), while they have increased in Africa (+205) and Asia (+25).
The long-standing trend of a global decrease in women religious continues, this time reaching 10,588 compared to the previous annual survey. There are a total of 608,958 women religious in the world. The increases are once again in Africa (+2,275) and Asia (+366), while there have been decreases in Europe (-7,804), the Americas (-5,185) and Oceania (-240).