VATICAN CITY — The number of Catholics worldwide is rising at a slightly lower rate than overall population growth, according to statistics compiled by the Vatican.
The Vatican’s Statistical Yearbook for 2000, which contains the latest figures available, puts the total number of Catholics in the world at 1.045 billion, up from 1.038 billion in 1999.
The Vatican said in a sampling of statistics issued May 4 in advance of the yearbook’s publication that Catholics made up 17.3 percent of the world population in 2000, down from 17.4 percent the previous year.
Between 1978 — the year in which Pope John Paul II was elected pontiff — and 2000, the number of Catholics in the world rose by 38 percent, according to Vatican figures. In 1978, they numbered 757 million and made up 18 percent of the total population.
The Vatican said the growth in Catholic population varied by region with Africa having the largest increase and Europe the smallest. During the 22 years of John Paul’s papacy, the number of baptized Catholics increased by 137.4 percent in Africa, 90 percent in Central America, 86.6 percent in South America, 69.4 percent in Asia and the Middle East, 24.6 percent in North America and 5.8 percent in Europe, the Vatican said.
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