The number of young people applying to become Anglican priests has risen by almost a third in the past two years after efforts by the Church of England to ensure its ageing population of vicars will have a new cohort to replace them.

Figures for 2018 show that 169 people under the age of 32 have been recommended for training as clergy, compared with 128 in 2016. More than half the total – 54% – are women, although they are concentrated in older age groups.

The C of E has a target to increase the number of candidates for ordination by 50% by 2020 so it can reduce the impact of retirements over the next decade. About a quarter of paid clergy are 60 or above.

Although the rising number of young ordinands is encouraging for the church, they are outnumbered by the 223 who are aged between 40 and 54. There are almost twice as many women as men in the older age groups, but for those under 32, men outnumber women by 106 to 63.

Ben Brady, 21, who will start a three-year residential course at Ridley Hall in Cambridge next month, said the growing number of young people entering training was a “sign of hope for the future”.

He has spent the past year on a “ministry experience” scheme in Moss Side and Whalley Range in Manchester, helping with services, baptisms, funerals and hospital visiting, which he said “helped confirm my calling to the priesthood”.

According to the church’s latest ministry statistics, 6.2% of new ordinands who reported their ethnicity last year identified themselves as being from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, compared with 3.8% of existing paid clergy.

In total, there were just over 20,000 ordained ministers serving in the C of E at the end of last year. Of those 7,740 were in paid positions across 12,500 parishes.

The shortage of ministers has required one in four paid clergy to take on additional roles, including looking after more than one church.

The number of women bishops has risen to 17, but only four are senior, or diocesan, bishops. There are 115 C of E bishop posts in total.