Fides statistics place Africa’s Catholic population above Europe’s
Agenzia Fides’ October 16 dossier reports 288.3 million Catholics in Africa and 287.2 million in Europe, using population figures from June 2024.
The Americas remain the largest regional Catholic population in the dossier, at about 678.9 million. Africa records the largest annual numerical increase.
European Catholic population increased in this dataset even as the region’s priests, women religious, and major seminarians declined. Population counts and institutional trends therefore should not be treated as interchangeable.