The average ratio of priests to lay faithful across the world is 3,373 Catholics for every priest. In the Americas, there are 5,534 lay Catholics for every priest. In comparison, the ratio of priests to lay faithful in Europe is 1,784 per priest.
The total number of bishops decreased slightly.
The number of bishops across the globe decreased slightly from 5,363 to 5,340. The global average ratio is 76 priests per bishop.
The number of permanent deacons increased.
The number of permanent deacons increased by 1.1% to 49,176, with the majority being in the Americas.
Brazil has the highest number of Catholics of any nation in the world.
With 180 million faithful, Brazil has the greatest number of Catholics of any nation in the world.
The Church is growing quickly in Africa.
Despite continued violent persecution in countries such as Nigeria, the largest percentage increase of Catholics in the world was in Africa, with an increase of 3.1%.
Africa breaks the trend by showing an increase in seminarians and religious brothers.
Africa also saw the only increase in seminarians and religious brothers across the globe. The number of seminarians in Africa increased by 0.6%. The number of religious brothers in Africa increased by 2.2%.
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Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.