Commenting ahead of the release of the 2016 edition of the Pontifical Yearbook - a major directory and compilation of statistics - the Holy See says there are 1,272 million Catholics, compared to 1,115 million in 2005.
Distribution of Catholics in 2014*
- The Americas: 48%
- Europe: 22.6%
- Africa: 17%
- Asia: 10.9%
- Oceania: 0.8%
*The Vatican
Leaders say Catholics represented 17.8 per cent of the globe's population in 2014, compared to 17.3 per cent in 2005.
Africa reportedly saw the strongest growth between the same period, where the number of Catholics rose by 41-per-cent, out-pacing a population growth rate of 23.8-per-cent.
Growth in the number of Catholics stood at 20 per cent for Asia (compared to 9.6 per cent population growth) and 11.7 per cent for America (compared to 9.6 per cent population growth).
In Europe, growth was "slightly higher" (two per cent) than the overall population growth rate, while Oceania's population growth rate of 18.2 per cent stood greater than its 15.9 per cent increase in the number of Catholics.
James Bogle, Vice-Chairman of the Catholic Union of Great Britain told Premier: "The general picture over the nine years is very significant growth, indeed.
He went on to say Europe could be seeing a revivalism in Catholicism: "You get a different picture from the secular media ..but, in reality, the growth on the ground is rather different."