Region concentrates 47.8% of Catholicism fans in the world; 27.4% are in South America and the remainder in the North and Central America
The Catholic population increased by 1.15% from 2022 to 2023 and reached 1.406 billion, according to the Vatican Central Statistics Office. America remains the continent with the largest number of Catholics, concentrating 47.8% of the total and recording a 0.9% growth in the biennium.
Of this percentage, 27.4% are in South America, 13.8% in Central America and 6.6% in North America. Brazil is the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world, totaling 182 million faithful, representing 13% of the global Catholic population. The yearbook points out that in Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay 90% of the population declares itself Catholic.
Africa was a continent that had the highest percentage growth, with an increase of 3.31% in the period. By 2023, the number of faithful reached 281 million on the continent. Among the African countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo leads the number of baptisms, with almost 55 million, followed by Nigeria, with 35 million.
The Asian continent grew by 0.6%, especially the Philippines, which recorded 93 million Catholics in 2023, and India with 23 million. Europe, which houses 20.4% of the world Catholic community, recorded the lowest growth among the continent with 0.2%. The countries with the largest number of faithful on the continent are Italy, Poland and Spain.
In Oceania, the Catholic population exceeded 11 million by 2023, representing a 1.9% growth over the previous year.
This text was produced by the journalism intern Luisa Rany under the supervision of editor Augusto Leite.
