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 --------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------- 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