12-year decline in worldwide priestly vocations accelerates
March 21, 2025
The number of major seminarians worldwide fell from 108,481 in 2022 to 106,495 in 2023, according to statistics published in the new Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (CWN coverage)—a decline of 1.83% in a single year.
The decline in 2023 follows declines of 1.3% in 2022 (from 109,895 at the end of 2021 to 108,481 at the end of 2022) and 1.7% in 2021 (from 111,855 at the end of 2020 to 109,895 at the end of 2021).
The number of major seminarians worldwide surged from 63,882 in 1978, the year of Pope St. John Paul II’s election, to 110,553 in 2000—far surpassing the rate of world population growth—and rose more steadily over the next decade to a peak of 120,616 in 2011.
The decline has been especially pronounced since 2019: the number of seminarians stood at 114,058 at the end of 2019. Thus, the number of major seminarians worldwide has fallen 11.7% over a dozen-year period and 6.6% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2023.
The 2023 decline in seminarians was most pronounced in Asia and in Europe. In Africa, however, the number of seminarians rose by 383 in 2023, from 34,541 to 34,924.
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