Vatican City - The number of Catholics in Africa nearly tripled in the last 26 years, making the continent the "most dynamic" in terms of growth of the Church, the Vatican said.
The newest edition of the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, prepared by the Central Office of Church Statistics, records a "rapid growth" of Catholics worldwide, increasing from 757 million to 1.09 billion, ZENIT reports.
The number of Catholics in Africa grew from 55 million to 149 million. The number of Catholics for every 100 people grew from 12.4 to almost 17.
The Holy See stated that Catholics in Africa now constitute 13.5 per cent of the total number of Catholics in the world, up from 7 in 1978.
America and Asia present "intermediate" situations between growth in Africa and a slight decline in Europe.
American faithful continue to represent a stable 62 per cent of the population, whereas in Asia the impact of Catholics has increased from 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent. The number in Oceania is also stable -- around 26 per cent of the population.
Nearly half of the world's Catholics live in the Americas. Catholics in Europe constitute 25.4 per cent of the Catholic population worldwide, down from 35 per cent in 1978. Catholics in Asia represent 10.3 per cent of the total population, and Catholics in Oceania represent 0.8 per cent.
However, the data is "less exciting," the Holy See explained, if "read in the light of the evolution of the world population over the same period," which increased "from 4.2 to 6.4 billion."
The Vatican reported a "slight decline" in the impact of "Catholics worldwide from 17.99 to 17.19 per cent.