Below are some statistics of the Catholic Church in the United States
over the years. I was not able to get all years from 1958 on, I will
add them when I can get them. These statistics are from "The National
Catholic Almanac" and "The Catholic Almanac". Some years the totals
don't include religious priests assigned abroad; or they don't reflect
numbers for outlying areas of the U.S. The totals for priests and
seminarians are for secular and religious. I only used these to illus-
trate one aspect of Church life. If you wish more detailed statistics,
consult the above named almanacs.
1957 1959 1960 1962 1966
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Priests 49,725 53,796 53,796 55,581 59,193
Brothers 9,300 10,473 10,473 11,502 12,225
Sisters 162,657 168,527 168,527 173,351 181,421
Seminarians 36,468 39,896 39,896 46,189 48,046
1967 1968 1969 1970 1974
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Priests 59,892 59,803 59,620 59,192 56,172
Brothers 12,539 12,261 11,755 11,623 9,233
Sisters 176,671 176,341 167,167 160,931 139,963
Seminarians 45,379 39,836 33,990 28,906 19,348
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
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Priests 58,909 58,847 58,301 58,485 58,430
Brothers 8,625 8,563 8,745 8,460 7,965
Sisters 135,225 130,995 130,804 129,391 128,378
Seminarians 17,802 17,247 15,943 14,998 13,960
1980 1982 1983 1984 1985
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Priests 58,621 58,085 57,870 57,891 57,317
Brothers 7,941 7,880 7,658 7,596 7,544
Sisters 126,517 121,370 120,699 118,027 115,386
Seminarians 13,226 11,645 12,054 11,262 11,028
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
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Priests 57,183 53,382 53,522 52,948 52,535
Brothers 7,429 7,418 7,069 6,977 6,721
Sisters 113,658 112,489 106,912 104,419 102,504
Seminarians 10,440 8,556 7,512 5,646 6,057
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
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Priests 52,124 51,358 50,007 49,434 48,649
Brothers 6,835 6,550 6,205 6,470 6,535
Sisters 100,334 97,751 92,621 93,106 90,793
Seminarians 6,266 6,247 5,715 5,549 4,964
1996 1997 1998 1999
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Priests 48,200 47,223 47,563 47,199
Brothers 6,297 6,235 6,115 5,970
Sisters 87,833 86,355 85,412 85,034
Seminarians 4,466 4,539 4,588 4,826
Catholic Population:
1957: 34,563,851
1959: 40,871,302
1960: 40,871,302
1962: 42,876,665
1966: 46,246.175
1967: 46,864,910
1968: 47,468,333
1969: 47,873,238
1970: 47,872,089
1974: 48,465,438
1975: 48,701,835
1976: 48,881,872
1977: 49,325,752
1978: 49,836,176
1979: 49,602,35_
1980: 49,812,178
1982: 51,207,579
1983: 52,088,744
1984: 52,392,934
1985: 52,286,043
1986: 52,654,908
1987: 52,893,217
1988: 53,496,862
1989: 54,918,989
1990: 55,062,842
1991: 55,646,713
1992: 55,337,316
1993: 56,398,696
1994: 56,857,063
1995: 57,348,914
1996: 57,444,292
1997: 58,357,561
1998: 61,563,769
1999: 62,018,436