During the Easter Vigil, many adults join the Catholic Church by receiving the Sacrament of Baptism or receiving Holy Communion for the first time, both in Estonia and around the world. Over the past two years, the share of baptized Catholics worldwide has remained stable at around 17.8%, which is roughly in line with global population growth. In 2024, the number of Catholics was slightly over 1.422 billion, compared with about 1.406 billion in 2023, a relative increase of 1.14%.
The contribution of different continents to the overall number varies. Europe remains the least dynamic continent, where the number of Catholics grows by only 0.8%. In the context of ongoing demographic stagnation, this leads to a modest improvement in territorial presence, with Catholics making up 39.7% of Europe’s population in 2024.
In the Americas and Asia, the number of Catholics is growing more slowly than the population overall, while in Oceania growth is more noticeable (+2.1%). Africa shows significant growth, with an increase almost five times greater than in Asia (2.7%). The number of Catholics in Africa rose from slightly over 281 million in 2023 to more than 288 million in 2024.
In Estonia, there are no exact statistics on the number of Catholics. It is believed that there are 8,000–9,000 Catholics in Estonia. According to the 2021 census, there are 8,690 Catholics in Estonia, which has noticeably increased over the past five years.