How many catholics are there in the world

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Stay on top of the latest news with our daily newsletters each morning, lunchtime and evening. Sign up. Sign In. Don't have an account? Forgot Password? Not an Irish Times subscriber? The various Christian denominations such as Catholics, are no longer ranked as the top identifier.

The total population that identifies as Catholic dropped a 2. As Australia has an average population growth rate of about 8. This indicates that western countries like Australia are moving further and further away from the Church. European countries such as Ireland, England and Italy, have been moving more towards secular ideals, with less people attending church, an increase in self-reported affiliations and other indicators such as new laws, politics, and legislation.

In the chart below, you can see the difference between practicing and non-practicing Christians, in most European countries:. Just as with many European Christians, there are many American Catholics that have moved away from the Church. According to a General Social Survey, there are more Americans that have left the church, then there are practicing Catholics that attend weekly mass.

Since then, more and more Catholics are attending mass less often. Sometimes only attending mass once a year, or in many cases, not at all. Meaning that they either no longer have any faith, or religious beliefs.

The reason for why many of the non-practicing Catholics are referred to as Cultural Catholics. While both Latin America and Europe became less heavily Catholic over this period, Latin America — which had much larger population growth — eclipsed Europe to become the region with the largest Catholic population in sheer numbers.

In several countries with large Catholic populations, the share of the populace identifying as Catholic has declined over the last decade. The Catholic population in the U. For example, the Catholic population has lost more members than it has gained from religious switching. In addition, the Catholic population in the U. Of the estimated Data for come from the World Christian Database Brill and are based on historical church membership data standardized by Todd M.

All the other demographic data in the report were compiled by the staff of the Pew Research Center and are based primarily on censuses and nationally representative surveys. Some country estimates differ for two reasons. First, new data has become available, such as the census in Brazil. By contrast, Pew Research analysis of census data suggests there are ,, Catholics in Brazil and 96,, Catholics in Mexico.

European countries that receive substantial numbers of non-Catholic immigrants who have higher fertility rates than white Europeans could also see their percentages of Catholics fall even more.

In addition, Latin America and the Caribbean—regions whose residents were almost exclusively Catholic at the beginning of the 20th century—have experienced significant reductions in the percentage of their inhabitants who identify themselves as Catholics. Five other Latin American countries have populations that are at least 15 percent Protestant. Fundamentalist and evangelical Protestant religions have also made major inroads among Latino immigrants to the United States.

Further rifts between traditional Catholicism and liberation theology in Latin America could also reduce the attachment of Latin Americans to Catholicism. The Catholic Church has several options in responding to the demographic shift of its flock away from Europe and toward the developing world. One option would be devoting greater energy to issues that affect the lives of Catholics in the developing world—issues including poverty, hunger, AIDS, inequitable access to health care, economic inequality, and war.

The Church might also take more aggressive measures to ensure that priests from the developing world attain positions of ecclesiastical power, including the papacy. In addition, the institution might increasingly have to rely on youth from the developing world to fill the ranks of priests and nuns. Finally, the Church also could adopt a laissez-faire approach about its demographic disjunctures.