Statistics

Some key statistics

16/03/2010 12:00 pm

Profile

The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world. It has more than 1.166 billion members worldwide – that means one in every six people walking the earth is a baptised Catholic.

Around six million Catholics live in Scotland, England and Wales.

Dioceses - The basic administrative unit of the Catholic Church is the diocese - an area presided over by a bishop, sometimes with auxiliary bishops to help him. There are 22 dioceses in England and Wales; eight in Scotland. These are divided into parishes, the local communities of Catholics. There are also two dioceses covering the whole country for specific groups: the Bishopric of the Forces and the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians.

There are five Provinces in England and Wales: Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Southwark and Westminster. There are two Provinces in Scotland: Edinburgh and St Andrews; Glasgow.

Weekly mass attendance is around 1.1 million.

There are 2,566 parish churches in England and Wales; 500 in Scotland. In addition, there are more than 500 chapels and churches open to the public.

Number of priests in Scotland, England and Wales:
• 4,400 active diocesan priests
• 811 retired priests
• 1069 religious priests

Number of deacons in England and Wales:
• 736 deacons

Ratio of priests to people in England and Wales:
• 1: 1147 (active diocesan priests: lay Catholics)

Number of convents in England and Wales
• 1066

Number of seminarians in England and Wales (Men in formation for priesthood)
• 136