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At the end of 2012, there were 1.228 billion Catholics in the world, according to the newly-published Statistical Yearbook of the Church.
This was an increase of 14 million (1.14 per cent) on the previous year.
Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at around 17.5 per cent
The Vatican publication estimated there were about 4.8 million Catholics not included in its survey.
This is because they come from countries that can’t send an accurate report to the Vatican, mainly North Korea and China.
The number of priests, permanent deacons and religious men all increased in 2012, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline.
The number of candidates for the priesthood also showed its first global downturn in recent years.
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News category: News Shorts, World.
