Oceania priest numbers decline slightly in decade

L’Osservatore Romano examined the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2024 and calculated that total number of diocesan priests worldwide fell by 0.5 per cent since 2013; the number of religious priests fell by 4.9 per cent.

In Oceania, the 2024 figure is 7.6 per cent lower than that of 2013, the paper stated. The number of seminarians in Oceania fell by a similar percentage in that period.

In Africa, however, the number of priests soared by 35.8 per cent between 2013 and 2024, and in Southeast Asia, the number of priests increased by 23.2 per cent. In contrast, the number of priests in Europe declined by 17.2 per cent, and the number of priests in North America (classified as the United States and Canada) declined by 14.2 per cent.

Overall, there was a 12.4 per cent decrease in seminarian numbers between 2013 and 2024, with the total falling from 118,251 in 2013 to 103,604 in 2024.

But in Africa, the number of seminarians increased by 28.0 per cent during the period examined. Europe, the Americas and Asia recorded significant drops – down 38.2 per cent, 21.7 per cent, and 21.1 per cent respectively – while the decline in Oceania was more modest at 7.5 per cent.

In 2024, Europe had 20.2 per cent of the world’s Catholic population, 37.5 per cent of the world’s priests and only 11.7 per cent of the world’s major seminarians. Africa, with 20.3 per cent of the world’s Catholics, had 13.9 per cent of the world’s priests, but 34.5 per cent of the world’s major seminarians.

The L’Osservatore Romano analysis also showed that in 2024, for every 100 candidates for the priesthood worldwide, 35 were African, 27 Asian, 26 from the Americas, 11 European and one from Oceania.

In particular, Asia (17.74 per cent) and Africa (12.39 per cent) stand well above the global average (7.29 candidates for priesthood per 100,000 Catholics as of 2024). Oceania was slightly above the average at 8.16 candidates per 100,000 Catholics.

The Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2024 was compiled by the Central Office of Church Statistics of the Secretariat of State in the Vatican.

FULL STORY

Distribution of priests and seminarians 2013 to 2024 (L’Osservatore Romano – in Italian)

Soaring number of priests in Africa, Southeast Asia amid declines in Europe, North America (Catholic World News)

New data of Annuario Pontificio 2026 shows Catholics growing in Africa (Vatican News)