Frequently Requested Church Statistics

Review of Religious Research article from 1967 by Francis X. Gannon entitled, " CARA gets many inquiries from Church agencies and the media about the numbers for vocations, seminary enrollments, priests and vowed religious, parishes, Mass attendance, schools and the Catholic population. Below are some comparative statistics from 1970. Generally, these data reflect the situation at the beginning of the calendar year listed. The sources for this information include The Official Catholic Directory (OCD), the Vatican's Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (ASE), and other CARA research and databases. All data are cross checked as much as possible. For the U.S, the numbers reported here include only figures for those 195 dioceses or eparchies who belong to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all U.S. military personnel stationed overseas. Entries reading "--" have no data available at this time and "na" is not applicable. Below the tables are some frequently asked questions and our most recent answers from our research blog: nineteensixty-four . Also listed are recent regular CARA statistical reports and CARA special reports. For more information about CARA research and statistics, including our national and parish surveys, demographic studies, trend analyses and projections, and focus groups visit CARA Services . For more information about CARA's beginnings read the followingarticle from 1967 by Francis X. Gannon entitled, " Bridging the Research Gap: CARA, Response to Vatican II ."

U.S. Data Over Time

Clergy, Religious, and Lay Leaders 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 Total priests 59,192 58,909 58,398 57,317 52,124 49,054 45,699 41,399 39,993 37,578 35,929 Diocesan priests 37,272 36,005 35,627 35,052 34,114 32,349 30,607 28,094 27,182 25,868 24,857 Religious priests 21,920 22,904 22,771 22,265 18,010 16,705 15,092 13,305 12,811 11,710 11,072 Priestly ordinations 805 771 593 533 595 511 442 454 459 515 468 Graduate-level seminarians 6,602 5,279 4,197 4,063 3,658 3,172 3,474 3,308 3,483 3,650 3,293 Permanent deacons na 898 4,093 7,204 9,356 10,932 12,378 14,574 16,649 18,082 18,193 Permanent deacon candidates na 2,243 2,514 2,263 1,980 2,026 2,497 2,342 2,445 2,051 2,155 Religious sisters 160,931 135,225 126,517 115,386 102,504 90,809 79,814 68,634 57,544 48,546 42,441 Religious brothers 11,623 8,625 7,941 7,544 6,721 6,535 5,662 5,451 4,690 4,200 3,931 Lay Ecclesial Ministers in parish ministry -- -- -- -- 21,569 29,146 -- 30,632 37,929 39,651 -- Parishes and the Catholic Population 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 Parishes 18,224 18,515 18,794 19,244 19,620 19,331 19,236 18,891 17,958 17,337 16,914 Parishes without a resident priest pastor 571 702 791 1,051 1,812 2,161 2,843 3,251 3,353 3,533 3,572 Parishes where a bishop has entrusted the pastoral care of the parish to a deacon or some other person -- 7 11 93 249 314 447 553 469 451 378 Percentage of diocesan priests active in ministry 90% 88% 85% 84% 80% 76% 74% 70% 68% 66% 68% Active diocesan priests per parish 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Catholic population (The Official Catholic Directory; parish-connected Catholics) 47.9m 48.7m 50.5m 52.3m 55.7m 57.4m 59.9m 64.8m 65.6m 68.1m 64.9m Catholic population (self-identified, survey-based estimate) 54.1m 54.6m 56.4m 64.0m 61.4m 64.4m 71.7m 81.2m 78.3m 75.4m 72.4m Foreign-born adult Catholics (survey-based estimate) -- -- 4.1m 5.4m 5.6m 7.1m 11.1m 17.6m 13.7m 13.1m 16.5m Former Catholic adults: Those raised Catholic who no longer self-identify as Catholic (survey-based estimate) 3.5m 1.8m 3.2m 2.1m 4.3m 10.8m 11.7m 15.5m 19.0m 23.6m 29.4m Adult converts to Catholicism (survey-based estimate) 2.9m 4.9m 4.5m 5.5m 5.0m 4.7m 4.8 4.3m 6.1m 4.7m 4.4m Religious Education 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 Primary school-age children in parish religious education 4.2m 3.9m 3.4m 3.1m 3.1m 3.3m 3.6m 3.4m 3.0m 2.6m 2.2m Catholic elementary schools 9,366 8,414 8,022 7,764 7,395 6,964 6,793 6,122 5,889 5,302 5,038 Students in Catholic elementary schools 3.4m 2.6m 2.2m 2.0m 2.0m 1.8m 1.8m 1.6m 1.5m 1.4m 1.2m Secondary school-age teens in parish religious education 1.3m 1.0m 959,935 831,331 736,188 749,377 760,644 787,033 656,722 635,170 527,344 Catholic secondary schools 1,986 1,624 1,549 1,425 1,324 1,280 1,297 1,325 1,205 1,200 1,199 Students in Catholic secondary schools 1.008m 884,181 838,136 774,216 606,000 638,440 653,723 653,226 611,723 583,885 555,901 Catholic colleges and universities 279 245 235 243 228 231 230 229 234 226 222 Students in Catholic colleges and universities 411,111 432,597 536,799 545,461 619,300 653,927 683,768 752,718 783,407 784,790 764,884 Sacraments and Rites 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 Baptisms of infants in previous year 1.089m 894,992 943,632 953,323 986,308 981,444 996,199 929,545 806,138 693,914 582,331 Baptisms of other minors in previous year -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 60,927 66,458 77,781 Baptisms of adults in previous year 84,534 80,035 88,942 87,996 85,600 66,886 77,578 76,605 41,600 42,751 35,138 Receptions into full communion in previous year -- -- -- -- -- 76,176 95,003 73,402 70,318 67,140 54,655 Confirmations in previous year -- -- -- -- 491,360 555,767 630,465 610,282 597,402 566,143 556,418 First Communions in previous year -- -- -- -- 849,919 794,576 881,321 807,066 802,300 726,887 600,816 Marriages in previous year 426,309 369,133 350,745 348,300 326,079 294,144 261,626 207,112 168,400 148,134 137,885 Annulments initiated in previous year -- -- -- 60,691 72,308 57,018 49,973 33,727 26,025 23,302 19,497 Funerals in previous year 417,779 406,497 417,047 446,822 452,526 455,477 472,789 445,616 417,387 391,131 392,277 Catholics who attend Mass every week (survey-based estimate) 54.9% 42.0% 42.2% 39.9% 32.5% 26.4% 30.8% 25.6% 24.2% 23.4% 21.1% Catholics who attend Mass at least once a month (including weekly and more frequent attenders; survey-based estimate) 71.3% 57.6% 63.7% 54.7% 57.2% 50.6% 48.9% 51.6% 48.9% 49.5% 45.3% Catholics praying at least once a week week (survey-based estimate) -- -- 80.8% 83.8% 76.1% 85.5% 82.5% 82.7% 79.8% 82.5% 80.8% Catholics who say their religious affiliation is "strong" (survey-based estimate) 45.8% 38.4% 44.1% 44.3% 36.2% 34.7% 36.7% 29.9% 32.3% 33.7% 32.2% Health Services 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 Catholic hospitals 727 657 642 631 633 600 594 571 553 541 541 Patients served in Catholic hospitals in previous year 21.5m 29.9m 36.5m 36.6m 43.4m 56.4m 79.0m 84.7m 89.9m 87.9m 94.5m Clergy Sexual Abuse of Minors 1970-74 1975-79 1980-84 1985-89 1990-94 1995-99 2000-04 2005-09 2010-14 2015-18 2019 Allegations made since 2004 (i.e., when abuse occurred) 1,957 1,885 1,444 729 342 187 121 112 106 57 2 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000-02 Allegations reported in 2002 or earlier (i.e., when abuse occurred) 3,445 2,074 431 172 Notes: The Official Catholic Directory, from which the sacraments data is drawn, is based on the state of the Church as of January 1 of the year it is published. The sacramental data in these volumes are totals from the previous year. The abuse allegation data are not equivalent to numbers of clergy accused. There are more allegations than accused clergy as some of the priests have multiple victims making allegations of abuse against them.

World Data Over Time

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2017 Total priests 419,728 404,783 413,600 403,480 403,173 404,750 405,178 406,411 412,236 414,582 Diocesan priests 270,924 259,331 257,409 253,319 257,696 262,418 265,781 269,762 277,009 281,810 Religious priests 148,804 145,452 156,191 150,161 145,477 142,332 139,397 136,649 135,227 132,772 Diocesan priestly ordinations 4,622 4,140 3,860 4,822 5,938 6,444 6,814 6,614 6,863 5,815 Graduate-level seminarians -- 24,183 33,731 43,476 51,603 54,154 55,968 58,538 58,140 56,507 Permanent deacons 309 2,686 7,654 12,541 17,525 22,390 27,824 33,391 39,564 46,894 Religious sisters 1,004,304 968,526 960,991 917,432 882,111 837,961 801,185 760,529 721,935 648,910 Religious brothers 79,408 70,388 73,090 65,208 62,526 59,515 55,057 54,708 54,665 51,535 Parishes 191,398 200,116 206,503 212,021 215,805 220,077 218,196 217,616 221,055 223,129 Parishes without a resident priest pastor 39,431 46,074 50,469 55,343 57,664 60,705 55,729 52,509 49,172 47,047 Canon 517.2 parishes where a bishop has entrusted the pastoral care of the parish to a deacon or some other person na na na 1,635 3,786 3,278 3,373 3,122 3,819 2,220 Catholic population 653.6m 709.6m 783.7m 852.0m 928.5m 989.4m 1.045b 1.115b 1.196b 1.313b Percent of world population 18% 17% 18% 18% 18% 17% 17% 17% 18% 18% Catholic elementary schools 89,112 79,424 75,454 78,160 78,548 85,043 89,457 91,480 92,847 101,527 Students in Catholic elementary schools 20.396m 19.584m 20.661m 22.390m 24.145m 25.246m 26.097m 28.084m 31.151m 34.559m Catholic secondary schools 25,552 27,542 29,637 30,404 31,200 33,349 35,559 39,096 43,591 48,560 Students in Catholic secondary schools 7.667m 9.522m 11.015m 12.066m 12.441m 13.232m 14.027m 16.232m 17.794m 20.321m Baptisms of infants to age 7 14.795m 15.553m 16.410m 16.119m 16.252m 15.867m 15.690m 14.448m 14.283m 12.830m Baptisms of those ages 8 and older 1.120m 990,727 1.131m 1.580m 1.879m 2.173m 2.718m 2.554m 2.667m 2.856m Marriages between two Catholics 3.306m 3.725m 3.821m 3.707m 3.633m 3.322m 3.433m 2.791m 2.712m 2.134m Marriages between a Catholic and a non-Catholic 360,466 353,702 335,802 328,457 347,206 311,287 297,915 262,230 247,228 232,739 Confirmations -- -- -- -- 8.033m 8.493m 9.257m 8.878m 8.793m 8.338m First Communions -- -- -- -- 11.329m 11.600m 12.237m 11.611m 10.728m 10.232m Catholic hospitals -- -- 6,700 6,056 5,675 5,482 5,853 5,246 5,305 5,269 Catholic orphanages -- -- 6,185 6,988 6,650 7,554 8,695 9,616 9,882 9,813 Note: The ASE, upon which the world data above is based, is released two years after the most current year measured. Thus, the ASE 2017, which was released in 2019, represents 2017 totals. For 2019, there are no current world data sources available.

Frequently Asked ?s (...Most Recent Answers)

2, 3) Is the U.S. Catholic population growing, declining, and/or changing? ( 1

2, 3, 4) How does Catholicism differ by geography in the U.S.? ( 1

2, 3, 4, 5) How often do U.S. Catholics worship and celebrate sacraments? ( 1

2, 3) How do U.S. Catholics vote and think politically? ( 1

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) What do we know about vocations? ( 1

2) Do Catholic school matter? ( 1

2) What do we know about converts to Catholicism? ( 1

2, 3, 4, 5) What do Catholics believe? ( 1

2, 3, 4) How much are people in ministry paid by the Church? ( 1

2, 3, 4) Are allegations of clergy sexual abuse of minors increasing? ( 1

2, 3, 4, 5, 6) What do you know about the global Church? ( 1

Most Recent Regular Statistical Reports

Recent Special Reports

Recent Working Papers

CARA occasionally produces working papers on topics on themes of more general interest, drawing from CARA research.

#8 Catholic Reactions to the News of Sexual Abuse Cases Involving Catholic Clergy

Early in 2002, the issue of sexual abuse among Roman Catholic priests began receiving unprecedented attention in the national news media. This paper provides a review of evidence from survey research conducted by the CARA. It primarily summarizes results from ten national telephone polls of adult self-identified Catholics conducted since January 2001.

#9 Catholicism on Campus: Stability and change in Catholic student faith by college type

In this paper, CARA analyzes data from a longitudinal survey of college students provided by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). These data include 14,527 students at 148 U.S. colleges and universities and were collected from students as freshman in 2004 and again to these students as juniors in spring 2007. CARA's analysis focuses specifically on Catholic students and we find that previously estimated negative effects of attending a Catholic college have been overstated. Catholic colleges and universities appear to be doing no harm—certainly in comparison to other types of higher education institutions—and at a more subtle level may be increasing their student's Catholicity.

#10 The Perceptions of U.S. Bishops and Deacon Directors Regarding the Work of the Papal Commission of Study on the Diaconate of Women

In 2016, at the request of representatives of the International Union of Superiors General (the Vatican sanctioned representatives of Religious Institutes), Pope Francis established a Papal Commission of Study on the Diaconate of Women. The Commission was tasked to review the theology and history of the office of deacon in the Roman Catholic Church and the question of whether women might be allowed to become deacons. In fall 2018 CARA completed a survey of the bishops leading each of the 197 dioceses and eparchies in the United States and a near identical survey of the deacon directors in each diocese and eparchy. This report focuses on the attitudes of bishops and diocesan directors of the permanent diaconate about the possibility of women as permanent deacons should the Holy See authorize the sacramental ordination of women as deacons.

#11 Shelter from the Storm: The Parish’s Role in the Faith Life of Vietnamese American Catholics in the United States

With their robust participation in parish life in dioceses across the United States and the disproportionately large number of religious vocations they contribute, Vietnamese American Catholics have had an impact on the U.S. Catholic Church that belies their relatively small numbers. Signs that their presence continues to grow include the increasing number of personal parishes specific to Vietnamese ministry across U.S. dioceses, the expanding number of Vietnamese-language Masses being celebrated, and the more than 100,000 people who annually attend Marian Days, a festival and pilgrimage for Vietnamese American Catholics in Carthage, Missouri. This study, generously funded by the Project Grant for Researchers at Louisville Institute, explores an aspect of their immigrant experience: the roles their religious institutions have played in helping first-generation Vietnamese immigrants to the United States reconcile their traditional family roles with those they encounter in the United States. After a brief literature review, this working paper examines their relationship to their parishes, some possible explanations for their high levels of religious vocations, and their struggles adapting to the new culture in which they find themselves.