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  • The number of Catholics in the world is increasing: almost one billion and 300 million, 17.7% of the world’s population. According to figures from the Church’s Book of Statistics and elaborated by Agenzia Fides, the baptized are 12 million and a half more than the previous year . This is one of the data in the Dossier published by Agenzia Fides on the occasion of the 91st World Mission Day, which is celebrated on Sunday, 22nd October 2017, which offers a panorama of the Church in the world.

    According to the Dossier, 1 billion and 100,000 people live in Africa, 19.42% are Catholics , with an increase of 0.12%. In America, out of 982.2 million inhabitants, 63.6% are Catholics, with a decrease of 0.08%. In Asia, out of 4.3 billion people, 3.24% of the population are Catholics, an unvaried figure.

    In Europe, the population is increasing , but for the second year in a row, the number of Catholics is 39.87%, a decrease of 0.21%.38.7 million people live in Oceania, 26.36% are Catholics, with an increase of 0.24% compared to the previous year.

    The Catholic ecclesiastical circumscriptions in the world are 3,006 : 538 in Africa, 1,091 in America, 538 in Asia, 758 in Europe and 81 in Oceania. The number of Bishops in the world increases by 67 units while the number of priests decreases by 136 units.

    Fides’ Dossier also informs that there are 351,797 lay missionaries in the world while 3,122,653 are catechists. The Catholic Church runs 216,548 schools in the world, attended by over 60 million pupils. In addition, almost five and a half million young people attend Catholic institutes during high school and university studies. Finally there are about 118,000 Catholic social and charitable institutes scattered throughout the world.

    Click here to read the full report.

    Source: Agenzia Fides