The Vatican’s Statistical Yearbook shows that there has been a steady growth in the number of Catholics in every continent except for Europe.
At the end of 2019, the worldwide Catholic population exceeded 1.34 billion or about 17.7% of the world’s population.
This marked an increase of 16 million Catholics or 1.12% increase compared to 2018 while the world’s population grew by 1.08%.
The Vatican regularly brings out a Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the latest showing church figures as of Dec. 31, 2019.