Catholics in the world numbered 1,375,852,000 people at the end of 2021, with an overall increase of 16.2 million compared with the previous year. Africa gained 40 million people in the time frame studied, 8.3 million of whom are Catholic. Catholics now amount to 17.7% of the world’s population. The total number of persons per priest in the world increased to 15,556, which is about 3,373 Catholics per priest. Worldwide, the total number of priests dropped by 2,347 to approximately 408,000. Europe suffered the largest drop, with 3,632 fewer priests from the previous year. Africa gained 1,500 more priests, and about 750 in Asia. The Americas lost nearly a thousand priests. Nigeria, Kenya, and Lebanon have the highest proportion of Catholics who attend Mass weekly, Nigeria with 94%, Kenya with 73%, and Lebanon with 69%. In comparison, in Germany, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, less than 15% say they attend Mass weekly. Permanent Deacons increased by 541 worldwide for a total of 49,176. Male religious dropped worldwide by nearly 800, although there was a gain of 205 religious men in Africa. Women religious now number 609,000 worldwide, a loss of 10,588, 7,800 of them in Europe. However nuns still outnumber priests by 200,000. Lay missionaries and catechists fell dramatically in the Americas by almost 4,000, compared with modest gains in Africa and Europe and a larger gain of nearly 670 in Asia. Only Africa had some gain in seminarians, where they also have the largest number at 34,000. Worldwide seminarians number 110,000. The Church operates more than 74,000 kindergartens, nearly 101,000 Catholic primary schools, and 50,000 secondary schools worldwide. There are about 2.5 million Catholic high school pupils and 4 million students attending Catholic universities. Additionally, the Church runs 5,405 hospitals worldwide, 15,276 homes for the elderly and needy, and 9,703 orphanages, with Asia making up the largest share of those orphanages.
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