Number Of Catholics In Europe Declines Drastically

Alarming data for the Holy See: the number of Catholics in Europe is decreasing from year to year. According to statistics published by the information organ of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, the Fides Agency, on the occasion of the 97th World Missionary Day on Sunday, October 22, “at the beginning of 2022, the number of believers in Europe calling themselves Catholics decreased by about 245,000 compared to the previous year’s results.” The decline in Catholics goes in parallel with the overall decline in the population of Europe: in 2022, the number of residents of the European Union fell to 446.8 million people (-200 thousand people).

Statistics from the Fides Agency provide a panoramic picture of the position of the Catholic Church in the world. The number of practicing Catholics is constantly growing, especially in Africa. As of December 31, 2021, the Catholic population was 1,375,852,000, with a total increase of 16,240,000 Catholics over the previous year. The increase affects all continents except Europe (-244,000). As before, growth was strongest in Africa (+8,312,000) and the Americas (+6,629,000), followed by Asia (+1,488,000) and Oceania (+55,000). The global percentage of Catholics is currently equal to 17.67% of the total population of planet Earth, currently estimated at approximately 8.03 billion people.